Inflation and cost of living were the top national issues, and they were national. Governors of both parties were popular and did well promoting their own economic progress and policies. But voters did expect candidates for the House and Senate to address the spiking inflation and cost of living. They […] Read more »
Humility Beat Hubris (For Now)
On November 8th, humility beat hubris. The election was not a triumph for professionals of either party who, with a few exceptions, didn’t see it coming. It is hard to claim credit for something you didn’t see. Meanwhile, voters, who generally lack hubris, quietly took a stand, particularly those in […] Read more »
How Much Did a ‘Dobbs Effect’ Blunt the Red Wave?
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 »
“Voters Are Smarter Than the Media”: The Pundit Class Misjudged the American People
For weeks, the political-industrial complex was sure that these 2022 midterm elections would be a bloodbath for democracy, a “red wave”—or better yet, a “red tsunami”—crashing over America. … But that’s not what happened. Voters rejected antidemocratic secretary of state candidates, as well as the prognostications about what they cared […] 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 »
Bad Vibes v. Good Results. Lynn Vavreck on the ’22 Midterms.
Dr. Lynn Vavreck, professor of political scientist at UCLA and contributing columnist to The Upshot at The New York Times, sits down with Jon to talk about 2022 midterms. After 2020, Lynn and her colleagues interviewed over 500,000 voters, leading them to conclude that our politics aren’t just polarized, but […] Read more »