Santiago Gaughan/The Cougar
Based on the current trajectory plotted by many political analysts, the 2022 midterm elections seem to be a year where the U.S. reverts back to Trump-era division and signifies a loss for Democrats.
Although most politicians are relieved to see Trump out of the office and out of the running for a second consecutive term, many Republicans and some Democrats have pushed back against Joe Biden’s ambiguous efforts to remedy a struggling economy, political tensions and civil rights issues.
Early polls have shown that the slim majority of Democrats in the Senate are likely to be overtaken by Republicans. Several states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas are all having major decisive elections in 2022.
Senator Warnock from Georgia, after winning an incredibly divisive special runoff election in 2021, will have to face another contentious election this year.
Texas, a recently-declared battleground state, is having a gubernatorial election. The question of whether Gov. Greg Abbott will finally be replaced from office remains to be seen.
Lastly, Pennsylvania is having both an important gubernatorial and House-level election this year which could allow the battleground state to swing in the favor of the Republicans this time around.
These three states were one of the big states in question during the 2020 Election. Based on the recent performance of Biden as a leader, however, all of these states have a good chance of either swinging or remaining Republican.
A Gallup poll conducted in January 2022 found that people who identify as independents, as well as some Democrats, have begun to feel negatively towards Biden.
While the poll was done prior to the breakout of the Russia-Ukraine war and the aggressive rise in prices, most trends remain relatively the same, if not worse.
An even more recent poll by CBS News finds a more troubling trend: the Republican Party is considered by most to be “extremist” while others label the Democratic Party as “weak.”
Most of these feelings stem from a dislike for the current President.
This labeling of the parties as “extremist” and “weak” only reveals an old trend that has kept the American government from reaching any favorable or progressive legislation: partisanship.
Reverting back to a state where bitter divisions between the two parties ripped the country apart due to a deference to cooperate will only cause federal gridlock.
The most recent struggle that Biden has had to address is the fight for abortion rights. For years, Biden has been a tactful supporter or opponent of abortion due to his Catholic faith.
Now seemingly, with the midterm elections and 2024 looking like a hard race for Biden, he has reverted back to being a supporter of abortion once again.
The 2022 midterm elections will most likely result in a loss for Democrats based on the analysis by political scientists, Biden’s struggling leadership, and reversion to partisanship as a reaction to the country’s weakened economic and political situation.
JJ Caceres is a political science sophomore who can be reached at [email protected]
