So, What Had Happened?
How bad do things have to get before some voters are willing to cross a party line?
I debated whether I should write something about the midterm election. You have undoubtedly read plenty of analysis in the last couple of days. Instead of writing a full-length essay, I want to throw a few observations and start a conversation with you. I’m ready to be convinced and change my mind. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comment section.
No. 1. Are things not bad enough for some?
Republicans should have won both chambers of the U.S. Congress with a slam dunk, given how bad things have been in the last two years: sky-high inflations, soaring crimes, mass layoffs, falling stock markets, and the ongoing border crisis. For the first time in decades, Americans feel poorer and less safe. It is depressing to learn that “one in four Americans say they’re actually skipping Thanksgiving altogether to save money. One in three are hosting smaller dinners and a staggering 88 percent are cutting at least one dish from their table in order to make ends meet.”
Had all these occurred in Communist China, the 1.4 billion people could do nothing about it. But in the U.S., a democratic election is how citizens hold politicians and their destructive policies accountable. CNN’s exit polls showed: “Three-quarters of the electorate tell us they’re dissatisfied or angry.” Yet, this dissatisfaction or anger has failed to materialize at voting booths. In many places, such as New York and California, voters send the same politicians responsible for citizens’ miseries back to office. These politicians will undoubtedly feel vindicated and see no needs to change their policies, which means more economic hardship for many Americans in the coming months. Really, how bad do things have to get before some voters are willing to cross a party line?
No. 2. Demographics are not Destiny
In my latest piece in TheFederalist, I wrote that Democrats have long argued that “demographics are destiny,” meaning that the nation’s growing minority and immigrant population will ensure the Democrat Party’s long-term political dominance in America. But Hispanic voters in Florida delivered a powerful rebuttal to such an assertion, solidifying Florida’s transformation into a red state Tuesday night by helping reelect Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio by landslide margins. For those who have paid attention, Hispanic voters’ shift to the political right is not a one-time outlier but has been part of a decade-long trend. I see more Asian and Black voters move to the political right, albeit on much smaller scales than Hispanic voters. So I remain hopeful for the future.
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