UNITED STATES: This year, the voters’ unhappiness has worsened and resembled a nationwide anxiety disease.
Voters have been caught off guard by economic instability, worries about public safety, persisting public health dangers, and shortages of everything from secondhand automobiles to baby formula to teachers as the virus has subsided.
The FBI investigation into former President Donald J. Trump and his ongoing lies about the 2020 election has added to the sense that the nation’s political system is seriously broken, if not on the verge of collapse.
Other political unrest has been caused by the debate over abortion rights, horrifying gun violence, and the political upheaval surrounding these issues.
In the affluent Central Valley of California, where wealthy Bay Area tech workers have driven up property prices, Democratic candidate for reelection Josh Harder said, “Folks look around, and they feel like it’s been a really tough couple of years.”
Since the spring, expectations of a so-called “red wave” have decreased due to President Biden’s small increase in popularity and the decline in gas prices from record highs. Democrats have slightly outperformed Republicans in recent polls, while most surveys still have a margin of error around their lead.
Democrats won those special elections, usually held in the slower summer months, thanks to more informed and college-educated voters who were more motivated by topics like abortion and gun control.
The electorate for the midterm elections, however, may more closely resemble those for the New Jersey and Virginia governorships last year. Republicans won those races by drawing a larger electorate that was more interested in economic and educational matters, which are the most important concerns for most voters.
Representative Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, claimed that the topic of abortion was rarely raised during her 2018 campaign and that people in focus groups she did for her campaign were not particularly inspired by it even after the draft Supreme Court ruling was leaked in May.
She claimed that she is now regularly questioned about abortion rights when she runs for office in the swing suburbs outside of the Twin Cities.
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