How Did Biden and the Democrats Beat the Odds in the 2022 Midterms?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Democratic Party will retain control of the Senate. Control of the House of Representatives is still unknown, but should the Republicans gain a majority, it will be far slimmer than expected. How did the party in power with an unpopular president and record inflation manage to pull off a midterm success and thwart the expected 'red wave'?
What the Left is Saying: A CNN analysis determined, "general election voters punished Republican candidates they saw as too extreme." Another analysis from CNN credited record young voter turnout helping the Democrats. This was echoed by President Biden, who thanked young voters in his remarks the day after the election. An article in the New York Times (Lean Left Bias) credited the Democrat’s success to framing the midterm elections as a rebuke of former president Donald Trump and 2020 election deniers, writing, "Democrats cast the election as a referendum not on Mr. Biden’s record but as a verdict on the state of American democracy."
What the Right is Saying: An analysis in The Dispatch determined that Democrats found success by "meddling" in Republican primaries, writing, "Democrats spent more than $53 million boosting Trump-aligned candidates in 13 races," believing candidates with ties to the former president would be easier to defeat in the general election. A writer in the Daily Caller (Right Bias) determined that economy-based messaging pushed by Republicans failed to persuade young voters, writing, "inflation affected groups that tended to vote Democrat less than the average American."
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But as votes were still being counted in several states, there remained the possibility that Republicans could end up with control of both the House and the U.S. Senate.
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