On Election Day, a small but crucial percentage of Republican voters deserted their party, casting ballots for Democratic nominees in several elections that featured Trump-backed candidates at the top of the ticket. These Trump-driven defections wrought havoc on Republican ranks. At the extreme, a once-strong Republican Party in Michigan was […] Read more »
It was all about the independents, again
… According to the Edison Research preliminary exit polls, independents were without question the most critical voter group in this election. In fact, they made up 31 percent of the electorate, the largest percentage going back as far as the 1980 election. While the exit polls showed independents growing, it […] Read more »
Duh, It’s The Economy Stupid!
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 »
Democrats would have gotten crushed this election without young voters
… Democrats would have gotten crushed without young voter support. Democratic House candidates won voters under the age of 45 by 13 points, while losing voters age 45 and older by 10 points. Breaking it down further, House Democratic candidates won voters under 30 by 28 points – that’s an […] 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 »
It wasn’t just “the economy stupid”—it was abortion
… Inflation is unpopular with both parties—there is no pro-inflation and anti-inflation party. In fact, if we’ve learned anything about politics in our polarized time it’s that voters see almost all issues through their partisan lens. Democrats worried about inflation could think that Joe Biden was dealing with it and […] Read more »