{"id":1522312,"date":"2022-06-19T06:04:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T10:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1522312"},"modified":"2022-06-19T06:04:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T10:04:52","slug":"republicans-smell-blood-in-the-water-as-democrats-scramble-before-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-smell-blood-in-the-water-as-democrats-scramble-before-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Smell Blood in the Water as Democrats Scramble Before Midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frepublicans-smell-blood-in-the-water-as-democrats-scramble-before-midterms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1522312&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Republicans are widely expected to win control of Congress in the November midterm elections. It\u2019s not a question of \u2018if\u2019 Democrats will lose control of the House \u2013 and likely the Senate \u2013 but rather, by how many seats.<\/p>\n<p>Even before President Joe Biden took office, historical trends suggested that Democrats, who hold slim congressional majorities, would be at risk in 2022: in midterm elections since 1974, the president\u2019s party has lost an average of 23 House seats, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/393626\/usual-midterm-indicators-unfavorable-democrats.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according<\/a> to Gallup. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/06\/15\/opinion-nancy-pelosis-incredible-shrinking-house-majority-sheffield\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: SHEFFIELD: Nancy Pelosi\u2019s Incredible Shrinking House Majority)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By all indications, Democrats are on track to suffer a greater-than-average loss of seats this year, given that Biden\u2019s approval rating and three other key national mood indicators \u2014 satisfaction with how things are going in the U.S., ratings of the economy and congressional job approval \u2014 are well-below the historical averages in past midterm election years, per the same Gallup analysis.<\/p>\n<p>In the two worst midterm election years for Democrats in modern history \u2014 2010 under former President Barack Obama and 1994 under former President Bill Clinton \u2014 the party lost 63 and 53 U.S. House seats, respectively. This year, Democrats could see even more substantial seat losses.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, President Biden\u2019s approval rating is currently lower than both Obama\u2019s and Clinton\u2019s at the same points in their presidency. Further, compared to both 2010 and 1994, Americans in 2022 are less satisfied with the way things are going in the country, more pessimistic about the economy and less approving of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>With just five months until the midterms, is there any chance that the Democratic Party will be able to reverse their political fortunes and prevent a red-wave election?<\/p>\n<p>In short, it is possible, but highly unlikely at this point, given the multitude of crises facing the country and the hostile political environment Democrats face.<\/p>\n<p>While some Democrats are optimistic that recent events will galvanize the party\u2019s base and stem their losses \u2014 namely, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/05\/02\/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">news of the Supreme Court potentially overturning <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/politics\/texas\/article\/With-no-gun-deal-yet-U-S-Sen-John-Cornyn-17249034.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">renewed focus on gun control following a string of mass shootings<\/a> \u2014 polling doesn\u2019t bear that out.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have a 12-point voter enthusiasm advantage over Democrats, per an Economist\/YouGov <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.cdn.yougov.com\/h1z6fc9iv8\/econTabReport.pdf\">poll<\/a>, which was conducted following the mass shootings in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/06\/16\/1105776617\/buffalo-shooting-suspect-says-his-motive-was-to-prevent-eliminating-the-white-ra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buffalo, New York,<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/17\/us\/uvalde-shooting-gunman-police.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Uvalde, Texas,<\/a> and thus after the news broke about Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n<p>It is also highly improbable that abortion rights and guns supplant the economy as the top midterm issue. In just the last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/the-avenue\/2022\/06\/17\/three-questions-for-the-labor-markets-near-future\/#:~:text=Despite%20solid%20job%20gains%2C%20inflation,gas%2C%20rent%2C%20and%20food.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">inflation hit a 41-year-high<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the average price for a gallon of gas reached $5<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/13\/business\/stocks-bonds-crypto.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stocks entered a bear market<\/a>. Voters are struggling with higher prices every day, and fair or not, will take out their economic frustrations on Democrats in the midterms.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration\u2019s attempts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/06\/03\/biden-positive-spin-slowing-economy-00036928\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">highlight positive economic indicators<\/a> \u2014 increased wages and historically low unemployment \u2014 have been to no avail politically.<\/p>\n<p>Relatedly, despite Biden\u2019s efforts to distance the party from the Left\u2019s unpopular policing policies as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/major-cities-violent-crimes-data-murders-shootings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">crime rises across the country<\/a>, the results of the Los Angeles mayoral primary election on Tuesday indicate that Democrats will have a difficult time countering GOP attacks ahead of the midterms. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/06\/10\/eric-adams-karen-bass-tough-on-crime-comeback\/https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/06\/10\/eric-adams-karen-bass-tough-on-crime-comeback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Pro-Police, Tough-On-Crime Democrats Are Making A Comeback. Here\u2019s Why)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though Democratic Rep. Karen Bass worked to strike a more moderate tone on policing and criminal justice, as Biden as tried to, Rick Caruso \u2014 who was formerly a Republican, has never held elected office, and takes policing positions that run to the right of Bass \u2014 was able to finish ahead in one of the most Democratic-leaning cities in the country.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to national Democrats\u2019 messaging failures on the economy and crime, the party has not been able to communicate a path forward for the country on the other worsening crises we face, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/06\/15\/border-migrants-immigration-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">situation at the Southern border<\/a> and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, historical trends, Biden\u2019s deeply negative ratings, widespread pessimism and the Democratic Party\u2019s failure to provide cogent messaging on key issues \u2014 the economy, crime, immigration, and the pandemic \u2014 indicate that Democrats could be on track to lose as many seats as they did in 2010 and 1994, if not potentially more.<\/p>\n<p><em>Douglas E. Schoen is a Democratic pollster and strategist. He is the author of \u201cThe Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, From the Grass Roots to the White House.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans are widely expected to win control of Congress in the November midterm elections. It\u2019s not a question of \u2018if\u2019 Democrats will lose control of the House \u2013 and likely<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}