The Republican Party cannot be particularly pleased with the outcome of the midterm elections, while the Democratic Party can feel relieved for the results obtained in a call that usually punishes the party of the incumbent president, especially when the economic context is negative. Although there are plenty seats to be determined in both chambers of Congress, on which the color of the majorities (in any case meager) and the course of the second half of Joe Biden’s term still depend, the red tide, due to the distinctive color of the Republicans, did not occur . Yes it happened, instead, a remarkable mobilization on both sides, stimulated by the extremism of Donald Trump and his followers, which, as it happened in 2020, has not turned out to be especially advantageous for the radical agenda of the former president.
the fully current division of the country into two incompatible blocks, With the New England and Pacific Rim states dyed blue, the color of the Democrats, and the South, Midwest, and blighted industrial areas, red, it seems will prevent, and not only in the short term, any kind of broad majority. And what’s worse, any kind of basic consensus in American society. The rush, once again, of the results guarantees long-discussed recounts to the limit, delegitimizing resources and maneuvers to redefine electoral districts and condition the exercise of the right to vote, which will only fester and deteriorate the democratic health of the country.
A Biden in low hours can count as a moral success not having suffered the setback that was predicted, although the objective of healing wounds in his mandate has proven to be chimerical and he will probably have to wait until December to find out if at least it retains a majority in the Senate. For Trump, by contrast, even a minimal GOP lead will fall short of the acclamation victory he hoped to launch his campaign to return to the presidency. Even some of the clearest republican successes they have not been for those who have taken control of the party: the very clear victory of Florida Governor Ron De Santis (with worrying advances in the Hispanic electorate for the Democrats) puts on the scene a new candidate for the Republican nomination.
The behavior of the electorate has had much to do with two very different assumptions. For Republican voters, responding to the grievance two years ago, when they joined Donald Trump’s strategy of not admitting defeat and labeling fraudulent Joe Biden’s victory. For many Democratic voters, going to the polls became little more than a moral obligation given their belief that the preservation of democracy was at stake. The victories in various states of consultations aimed at preserving the right to abortion have also had much to do with this perception of liberal public opinion, which is restless, not without reason, because of the degradation of democratic culture.
Neither the attempted coup against democracy on Capitol Hill, nor Trump’s legal affairs, Neither inflation nor the climatic emergency have been enough for voters to move from the deep ideological trenches consolidated during the previous divisive presidential term. None of all this has weighed more than the emotional factor, which only predicts an atmosphere of confrontation in the long presidential campaign of 2024 which will start immediately.