Here is Why Democrats are Worried About the Midterms

By Kevin Price, Editor at Large, USA Business Radio.

Many Democrats are quietly mumbling about what could happen on Tuesday elections. They are suppose to win in state office across the country (especially in the Midwest) and are suppose to win back the US House (with the dream of winning the Senate now a distant memory). “Surely, we won’t get it wrong… again.”  In 2016 the Democrats were shell shocked by the results.  They could not believe that the American people would vote for Trump.  Forget about conventional wisdom that there was “no way the American people would vote for someone like Trump,” much of the polling pointed to a Hillary Clinton victory.  But they got it wrong — very wrong.  Trump won for several reasons:

• Many of the huge independent block that voted for Trump lied when polled (because of their disdain for the media).  They relished not letting the media know how they were going to vote.
• Many said they were voting for Hillary because they were embarrassed to tell a pollster of their support of a candidate that had been dismissed as “ridiculous” and even “dangerous” by the mainstream media.
• The pollsters failed to question many of the people that had never voted before. That’s not an unusual challenge when there is an influx of new voters, but few had seen anything like 2016.

A headline in the progressive, The Daily Beast, says it all: “Democrats Ponder the Unthinkable: What if They Lose?”

The article states:

“Nearly two years of organizing, marching, candidate recruitment and unprecedented fundraising has led the Democratic party to a critical moment. On Tuesday, it can either reassert itself politically or fall short, prompting an utter and complete psychological meltdown.

“Most in the party believe that the path they will go down will be the former; that they will gain a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since former President Barack Obama’s first term. But paranoia is part of the Democratic DNA, especially after the shock of the 2016 election. And in the final stretch of the midterm campaign, a scenario in which the party is unable to flip the requisite 23 House seats looms in the dark recesses of the mind.

What happens if the Democrats fail?

“It will be paralyzing for a while, it will,” said Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress. “Candidly, I think there will be a fair amount of soul searching and people will feel back on their heels… We will have to rebuild. But the resistance is built on opposition to [Donald] Trump’s extremism. And the more extreme he is, the more we will have.”

In many ways, Democrats’ are more poised to be disappointed in 2018.  The Democrats could look a lot like Charlie Brown chancing the voters (um, Lucy’s) football. These are some of the factors following the Democrats:

• If anything, it is harder to be vocal about supporting Trump (which Republicans are seen as a representative of) now than it was in 2016.  There has been no break in media’s onslaught of negative stories against the President, in spite of many successes.  This will have many being coy, if not outright misrepresenting, how they will vote.
• The only consistent issue the Democrats have hit on is healthcare.  This issue carries enormous negative luggage for Democrats and, if anything, hanging their hopes on it is a gamble.  Sure, Americans have grown fond of “preexisting conditions coverage” but more than half have loss access to their doctor of choice and an even larger percentage have seen an annual increase in healthcare that has been much higher each year since Obama was elected than the years before.
• Meanwhile, jobs and the economy are the biggest issues for voters, historically.  On these issues, Trump and the GOP wins hand down.  Not only is unemployment at historically low levels, wages are consistently increasing across the entire economy and not just the highest income groups.
• Also, no matter what people tell you, fear is a powerful force in elections.  The caravan of illegal immigrants heading to the US border — many carrying the flags of their country, which makes them look like invaders rather than refugees — frightens a huge percentage of voters.  According to the Texas Secretary of State, 53% of the state’s Hispanic male voters went with anti-immigration Lt. Governor Dan Patrick in his last election.  Americans may feel sympathy for the plight of people from some of these countries, but they are not looking for competition to their jobs or additional people to add on social spending programs.  This caravan may be the best thing to happen for the GOP’s chances.

Democrats are relishing the news that there are so many traditionally conservative seats that are now “toss ups.”  Do not be surprised if the majority of these stay solidly in the GOP’s camp.  Elections these days are very strange, so anything is possible.  But don’t be fooled, the Democrats are going to sweat it out until they see the outcome.

Kevin Price is Editor at Large for USA Business Radio.  He is a also a nationally syndicated radio host of the Price of Business show on stations coast to coast to coast.