… As of today, there are no brave souls in President Donald Trump’s inner, or even outer, circle volunteering to mention to him that the most recent four times that majority control of the House of Representatives switched from one party to the other — 1954, 1994, 2006 and 2010 — were after midterm elections. In the presidential election of 2016, Trump was able to win 46.4 percent of the popular vote despite the fact that, according to exit polls, only 33 percent of voters believed that he was “honest and trustworthy” — at least in part because only 36 percent of those same voters judged Democrat Hillary Clinton to be honest and trustworthy. In their presidential selection, voters make a comparative choice between two competing nominees.
But midterm elections are entirely different; a midterm election is a straightforward referendum on the sitting president — Democrat or, in the current case, Republican. CONT.
Mark Shields