Midterms Show Trump ‘Liability’ for Republicans, Moderate Message Resonates
Voters fill out their ballots before bringing them to counting machines at a polling site in the Brooklyn Museum as the doors open for the midterm election, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The results of this week’s midterm elections show that former President Donald Trump alarms large numbers of women and minority voters while his predecessor’s moderate message to find a common ground resonates, analysts told Sputnik.An anticipated strong wave of support for the Republicans, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), never materialized on Tuesday. NBC projects the Republicans will take 220 seats and the Democrats will control 215, representing a 15-seat net gain. However, many pundits expected the Republicans to end up with a 25 to 30-seat gain.Meanwhile, control of the 100-seat Senate remains up for grabs, with three tight contests still considered too close to call.Trump endorsed dozens of candidates in both races with mixed results. Trump-backed candidates lost in a few highly watched contests, including the senate race in Pennsylvania. Trump himself called the results of the midterms “disappointing.”
"Trump frightens many voters – especially women of all stripes and various minorities – and has become a liability for the GOP," Gerald Horne, professor of African American History at University of Houston, told Sputnik.
Moderate Republican and Independent women voters across the country also abandoned many Republican candidates and supported Democratic ones because of the congressional party’s support for a national ban on abortions, Horne added.Republicans also failed on a wider range of issues because they had no plausible range of policies to offer on getting federal spending and inflation under control, Horne pointed out.
2022 US MidtermsBiden: ‘Good Day for America’ as ‘Red Wave’ Failed to Materialize After US Midterm ElectionYesterday, 02:09 GMTUniversity of Pittsburgh Professor of International Affairs Michael Brenner observed that the Republican attempt to campaign on rising energy prices had failed to resonate with voters.Former President Barack Obama also had a significant impact on the midterm election outcome with his calls for the need to preserve democracy and maintain a common ground between moderates on both sides, Brenner added.“Obama’s compelling message about common ground had an impact on more moderate Republican voters not supporting election deniers and other Trump-endorsed candidates,” he said.
