signalmankenneth
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I thought I was taking crazy pills on the set of CNN’s “Election Night in America” show on Nov. 8, leafing through the pages of exit polls just before the returns started rolling in.
Nearly half the country said they are “worse off” than they were two years ago. Three-quarters said they believed the nation’s economy was “not good” or “poor.” Inflation was the top issue, and 79% of Americans said they faced hardship from it. Almost 75% said they were “dissatisfied” or “angry” about the way things are going in the U.S.
Democratic President Joe Biden? Unpopular, at just a 41% approval rating. His policies? Also unpopular: Forty-seven percent thought they were “hurting” the country, versus 33% who said they were helping.
A sour, angry electorate showed up at the midterm election polls, according to the data. They should have punished the party in power, especially the independent swing voters among them, who made up about a third of all voters. That would have matched similar trends in the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 midterms.
And yet, the swing voters didn’t swing that way at all.
Independents broke slightly for the Democrats nationally — 49% to 47% — and they sided with Biden’s party even more decisively in key Senate contests.
In Georgia: Independents went for Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock by 11 points over Herschel Walker.
In Arizona: Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly won them by 16 points over Republican challenger Blake Masters.
In Pennsylvania: Democrat John Fetterman won them by 20 points over Republican Mehmet Oz.
As election night wore on, it became clear to me that although independents in 2022 may not love Biden, they absolutely abhor Donald Trump. And in each of those three states, the Republican Senate candidates shared the characteristic of being, to varying degrees, a subsidiary of Trump.
If Biden’s approval rating is low, Trump’s favorability is worse, sitting nationally at 39%. He is hugely unpopular, and his brand continues to taint Republicans who haven’t built their own identities.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lesson-mid-terms-independents-may-172059564.html
Nearly half the country said they are “worse off” than they were two years ago. Three-quarters said they believed the nation’s economy was “not good” or “poor.” Inflation was the top issue, and 79% of Americans said they faced hardship from it. Almost 75% said they were “dissatisfied” or “angry” about the way things are going in the U.S.
Democratic President Joe Biden? Unpopular, at just a 41% approval rating. His policies? Also unpopular: Forty-seven percent thought they were “hurting” the country, versus 33% who said they were helping.
A sour, angry electorate showed up at the midterm election polls, according to the data. They should have punished the party in power, especially the independent swing voters among them, who made up about a third of all voters. That would have matched similar trends in the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 midterms.
And yet, the swing voters didn’t swing that way at all.
Independents broke slightly for the Democrats nationally — 49% to 47% — and they sided with Biden’s party even more decisively in key Senate contests.
In Georgia: Independents went for Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock by 11 points over Herschel Walker.
In Arizona: Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly won them by 16 points over Republican challenger Blake Masters.
In Pennsylvania: Democrat John Fetterman won them by 20 points over Republican Mehmet Oz.
As election night wore on, it became clear to me that although independents in 2022 may not love Biden, they absolutely abhor Donald Trump. And in each of those three states, the Republican Senate candidates shared the characteristic of being, to varying degrees, a subsidiary of Trump.
If Biden’s approval rating is low, Trump’s favorability is worse, sitting nationally at 39%. He is hugely unpopular, and his brand continues to taint Republicans who haven’t built their own identities.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lesson-mid-terms-independents-may-172059564.html