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 »
George Saunders on the ‘Braindead Megaphone’ That Makes Our Politics So Awful
The writer shares his observations on how social media has shaped the American psyche — and how more compassion and affection could help. The Ezra Klein Show The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack 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 »
If Democrats prevail during the midterms, TV advertising might have something to do with it
A vote sign appears at a campaign event for Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, 2022. Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images John M. Sides, Vanderbilt University The neck-and-neck race for control of the U.S. Senate is particularly unwelcome news for […] Read more »