We’re officially two weeks away from the November midterm elections. And if you haven’t noticed, Democrats are already imploding into infighting over why they’re losing ground in this election. Panic is setting in because the polls are shifting as the calendar turns to November. If the polls are correct, undecided voters are predictably flooding toward Republicans.
After convincing themselves that November would give them good tidings, Democrats see Republicans taking polling leads across the board. After being behind, Republicans are within the margin of error in tight races like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona. Democrats are deploying resources to places like Washington, Oregon, and Michigan. The generic ballot polls indicate sizable House margins, and a Senate majority is very much in play.
Media is warning Democrats.
The New York Times noted that Democrats flooded the Sunday political shows to discuss hot topics like inflation and the economy. The Times found this noteworthy because of the narratives around abortion or “threats to democracy.”
How many Democrats were on those shows? All of them, there was little counterbalance. The Times said, “The Republican side was less represented across the five major Sunday talk shows. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina was the only Republican interviewed broadly about the party’s agenda, as opposed to narrowly about a specific campaign.”
Democrats are running to media outlets while Republicans are on the campaign trail. That’s a notable sign by itself. Republicans are running a national campaign on a local issue: how much you’re spending at the grocery store, the gas pump, and anything else. Democrats are trying to reach voters on the Sunday shows, two weeks from the election, trying to formulate a message on inflation.
Even Robert Reich, a man who has reliably toted every water bucket the Democratic Party has given him, is alarmed. He’s warning Democrats they must focus on inflation and the economy or risk losing the election.
The Washington Post gave a stark view, too, “Rather than expanding their ambitions, Democratic strategists are now trying to keep voters, donors and volunteers from losing their nerve. Though there is wide agreement that the environment has deteriorated in recent weeks, it is far stronger for Democrats than it was in the spring, they argue.”
Democrats have weak candidates.
They can argue all they want, but the polls aren’t static at the moment. Everything in the data, from polling on down, is shifting towards Republicans. That doesn’t mean Republicans are a lock to win everything — that’s why we have campaigns — but it does say that Democrats are losing momentum rapidly.
In the summer months, while Democrats talked about abortion, they also dumped tens of millions of dollars on “extreme” Republicans in the GOP primaries. Democrats believed they could swing elections by making January 6, 2021, a leading campaign topic instead of the economy and inflation. That strategy is imploding in their faces.
Jon Gabriel in the Arizona Republic wrote, “For all the summer talk of Republicans choosing bad candidates, the Democrats are the ones with buyer’s remorse. It was all fun and games for Democrats to cheer on Lake and Masters as “unelectable” candidates in their primaries. This idiotic strategy famously backfired with Trump in 2016 and is primed to backfire yet again.”
Democrats pumped up “MAGA” candidates without seeing their own unelectable candidates. Democrats have bad candidates running in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, and more. Meanwhile, MAGA candidates and Republicans and general are gaining ground everywhere.
Inflation is everything.
This is shocking to Democrats. But if you’re an average person that’s dealt with inflation, gas prices, and a deteriorating economy over the last two years, none of this is a surprise. Politico made a similar point as they surveyed the Senate battlegrounds, “The GOP’s momentum on the Senate battlefield is consistent with national polling showing an uptick for Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, as the party holds the edge when it comes to handling most of the issues at the center of the midterm campaign — especially the economy and inflation.”
Republicans have had a steady drumbeat on inflation and the economy for more than a year. Of course, voters will trust them more. Republicans responded to this issue immediately, while Democrats ignored it. Democrats told everyone inflation was transitory, then it wasn’t bad, and then Biden told everyone we’d hit peak inflation last December. Republicans responded to the issue, and Democrats ignored it.
The wave is coming.
And now, Democrats are panicking at voters bolting from them. That panic occurred after Democrats tried to trot out a campaign message on inflation and the economy two weeks before the elections. College students burning all-nighters procrastinate less than the Democratic Party in these midterms.
November is almost here, and Democrats have no one else but themselves to blame for the current environment. They looked at inflation and poured gasoline on that fire. Now they wonder why people don’t trust them with the economy.
It was always going to be a red wave this November, and the question was just how big. Democrats lied to themselves over the summer. And now reality is setting in. We’ll find out in two weeks where their incompetence shakes out.