The expectations for 2022 midterms were set early on. The Democratic Party was expected to easily lose control of the House and potentially the Senate as a result of lackluster approval ratings for Joe Biden and concerns about issues like crime and inflation. But then came the end of Roe […] Read more »
While Democrats may have bucked the national trend, Republicans still hold a large sway in GOP-led states
In Democratic-leaning and swing states, voters last week delivered an unmistakable cry of resistance to the restrictive Republican social agenda symbolized by the drive to ban abortion. But in red states where Republicans have actually imposed that agenda over the past two years, GOP governors cruised to reelection without any […] Read more »
How Joe Biden and the Democratic Party defied midterm history
… Midterms are supposed to be the time for the opposition party to shine. That should especially be the case when there is once-in-a-generation inflation and when the vast majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. Instead, Biden and the Democrats are in a position to […] Read more »
Why were the midterm elections close? Exit polls offer clues.
A set of countervailing political forces may have contributed to the closeness of this year’s midterm elections, according to the current results of the national exit poll conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research. It remains uncertain which party will control either the Senate or the House […] Read more »
How the 2022 Midterms Became a Squeaker
… How the midterms turned out so improbably was, in many ways, a function of forces beyond Democrats’ control. A Supreme Court decision that stripped away a half-century of abortion rights galvanized their base. A polarizing, unpopular and ever-present former president, Donald J. Trump, provided the type of ready-made foil […] Read more »
How Abortion Boosted Democratic Candidates in Tuesday’s Midterm Election
While inflation was clearly at the top of voters’ minds in this year’s midterm elections, the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade played a significant role in motivating key voting blocs that likely contributed to the Democratic party’s stronger-than-expected performance, a new analysis of KFF’s supplemental questions on the […] Read more »