Wednesday, November 10, 2021

THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Now What Happens Next?

The 2021 electorate has spoken, and it said rather clearly that

its majority is not happy. The Republican base turned out, and

with Donald Trump on no ballot, was fairly united. Democrats

were somewhat divided, not that happy with President Biden,

and did not turn out with their usual strong numbers. Centrist

independents, moving toward the Democrats in 2018 and 2020,

shifted back to the GOP, especially in many suburbs where

radical urban policy proposals nearby turned them off from

the progressive agenda.


Such measures as “defund the police” did not  go well with

otherwise very liberal black urban voters.


Democratic leaders such as President Biden, former President

Obama, and House Speaker Pelosi, belittling many voters’

concerns about education and immigration, did not appear to

help their candidates in the two key races.


With President Biden now routinely receiving favorability poll

numbers in the high 30s and low 40s, many Republicans and

centrist independents are giddy about their prospects in 

next year’s much more dispositive nationwide mid-term elections.  


But a word of caution. Many mainstream Democratic pollsters.

strategists, and campaigners have concluded that the left agenda

is not being embraced by most voters, and are unlikely to send

their candidates down to campaign a losing campaign path next

year.


Yes, initial reaction to the 2021 election results by many

Democratic leaders has been defensive, and appearing to

double-down on their mistakes, but as poll numbers continue

to implode, laws of political gravity will likely reassert themselves

as the campaign season reaches a decisive point.


Of course, first mid-term elections historically do not go well for

new administrations, and loss of control of the U.S. house might 

not be avoided in 2022, but a more popular Democratic agenda      

might rescue or even expand the very narrow control of the U.S.

senate.


In fact, Democrats just got the news that highly popular New

Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu will not run

against very vulnerable  Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan in

2022. This likely turnover might now be avoided —- the GOP

so far lacks a strong replacement for Sununu — but if  there is

a red wave 2022 election because Democrats continue not to 

pay attention to voters’ concerns, Senator Hassan and several

other of her colleagues will lose..


In 1993 and 2009. upsets in the off-year elections, although few

in number, signaled possible landslides in the following years’

mid-terms. Democrats ignored those signals and paid a heavy

political price for doing so. On other occasions, Republicans

made the same mistake, and lost their majorities.


Republicans are fired up now, but the full outcome in 2022 is

mainly in the  Democrats’ own hands.


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Copyright (c) 2021 by Barry Casselman. All rights reserved.










 

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