Despite the record-breaking negative mood of the country, and lackluster Biden approval scores, the GOP’s narrow margin on the generic ballot translated into a smaller advantage than anticipated in the US House. Voters’ top issues were “rising prices and inflation” and “abortion,” followed by “the economy and jobs” and “protecting […] Read more »
In a hole since 2010, state Dems begin digging out
For more than a decade, Democrats have lamented their party’s inability to make inroads in legislative races across the nation, as Republicans use state House and Senate gavels to advance conservative agendas and to lock in majorities over the long term. But for the first time since the 2010 midterm […] Read more »
How Democrats Avoided a Red Wave
The coalition of voters who turned out to oppose Donald Trump in 2018 and 2020 largely reassembled yesterday, frustrating Republican expectations of a sweeping red wave. Under the pressure of high inflation and widespread disenchantment with President Joe Biden’s job performance, that coalition of young voters, people of color, college-educated […] Read more »
Calcified Politics Gives Us Another Close Election
Just as Democrats did in 2020, Republicans came into the 2022 midterms expecting a landslide. Sky-high inflation, an unpopular President, and pessimism about the direction of the country all pointed to a ‘typical’ midterm romp for the party out of power. But, as we have written extensively over the last […] Read more »
Democrats fend off headwinds from Biden and economy: Exit poll analysis
Democrats pushed back against historic trends in the 2022 midterms, overcoming broadly negative economic attitudes and Joe Biden’s unpopularity to hold more seats than typical in the face of such headwinds. Their competitiveness came down to a variety of factors — support for abortion rights, negative views of Donald Trump, […] Read more »
The Midterms Are a Shocking Vote of Confidence for Democrats
It is the normal state of affairs for a newly elected president to see his party rebuked decisively in the first midterm election. When the president is presiding over a bad economy — and, despite low unemployment, this very much is one — this tendency becomes something close to an […] Read more »