Washington
\nImagine, for a moment, that the US midterm elections had not delivered Democratic wins at a generational scale, but merely a trickle of flipped seats\u2014enough, perhaps, to change control of the House of Representatives but not enough for a Senate majority.
\nIs there any doubt that President Donald Trump would embrace such results as a good-enough validation of his often lawless and brutal administration? Would it not now be doubling down, striving to cast the polls as an imprimatur for its excesses?
\nInstead, American democracy skirted a disabling blow. Yet it would be a grave mistake to take a further step by concluding that voters\u2019 overwhelming rejection of Trump and his Republican Party marks a full-throated public re-embrace of democracy.
\nThe election was a disaster averted, but it was only an opening to assess and fix the damage caused by two years of a rogue administration acting without congressional oversight.
\nThe Democrats\u2019 landslide victory could set America\u2019s now clearly imperfect democracy on the difficult path of repair and improvement. But this opportunity could slip away unless seized swiftly.
\nConventional wisdom about the midterm results is already resurrecting James Carville\u2019s old adage: \u201cIt\u2019s the economy, stupid.\u201d
\nThere is, indeed, a kernel of truth to this. The Associated Press exit poll conducted on election day flagged economic discontent as voters\u2019 top concern. Likewise, a Gallup poll from a week beforehand also found voters ranking inflation and health care as the most important issues.
\nAgainst this backdrop, the bizarre optics of Trump\u2019s midterm campaigning\u2014Look at my reflecting pool! My beautiful ballroom! What about Jon Husted\u2019s great butt!\u2014underscore Trump\u2019s surreal detachment from everyday voters\u2019 woes.
\nSo potent is this story that most influential media outlets are offering inflation and affordability as catch-all explanations for the Democrats\u2019 sweep through states Republicans had held for decades. And it is easy to see this simple story becoming a guiding light for anti-Trump figures, including among Republicans, for the next two years.
\nThis emerging consensus captures an important part of the story, but also overlooks an important finding. According to the AP exit poll, almost one-third of voters named the health of democracy as their top concern\u2014just six points behind the economy\u2014while the Gallup poll appears not to have asked respondents about the issue at all.
\nConcerns over democracy and the rule of law also help explain the massive swings among Hispanic and Black voters. A UnidosUS survey of Hispanics found that immigration \u201coverreach\u201d\u2014that is, flagrant disregard for the rule of law\u2014was a leading concern. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Black turnout was driven by anger at the dismantling of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act\u2014that is, by outrage at right-wing judges\u2019 frontal assault on multiracial democracy.
\nThe affordability narrative risks overshadowing this strong public demand for democracy and even erasing it from the shared public memory of this election. That understanding of history creates a trap for Democrats, leaving the new House and Senate majorities a hostage to fortune, or worse. While control of the House and the Senate offers them a few policy tools with which to address inflation and affordability, those tools may not work quickly, and Trump retains broad control over trade policy and war-making.
\nIndeed, because Trump can still make things worse, it is reasonable to think that there will be scant improvement in economic sentiment two years from now. No doubt, the Republican presidential nominee in 2028 will pin the blame on the Democrats. At a minimum, the picture will be muddy.
\nDespite this risk, the affordability narrative is seductive to many Democrats, because it means they don\u2019t need to think about the structural problems with American democracy. Consider here rampant electoral gerrymandering, the Senate\u2019s malapportionment favoring rural populations, and the egregious inflation of judicial power.
\nThis time, the size of the Democratic wave overcame those barriers. But it would be reckless to count on that in the future, particularly as Trump retains powerful tools to erode democratic norms further. The Democrats, then, would be wise to lean into the democracy message by pressing for more structural change\u2014not only because it is the principled thing to do, but also because it is in their political interest.
\nThis does not mean simply focusing on the Trump family\u2019s venality. Highlighting corruption can be politically effective, as the midterm results showed. But unless the strong linkage between corruption and a weakening of democracy is made explicit\u2014how the scramble for spoils overcomes representation of voters and their interests\u2014scandalous revelations can also breed disabling cynicism and even voter apathy.
\nThe US midterm election results are an opportunity and an invitation. Voters\u2019 demand for the rule of law and democracy has helped destroy Trump\u2019s MAGA movement. That demand must not be forgotten or suppressed. The Democrats have opportunities, in Congress and also in newly-won state capitals, to show voters they understand that only democracy will be responsive on the economic front. Affordability may rank first, but addressing it depends on the quality of democratic institutions.
\nAmericans have given the Democrats the chance to show why that is true. They must not squander it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Imagine, for a moment, that the US midterm elections had not delivered Democratic wins at a generational scale, but merely a trickle of flipped seats\u2014enough, perhaps, to change control of the House of Representatives but not enough for a Senate majority. Is there any doubt that President Donald Trump would embrace such results as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":105564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105596,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105584\/revisions\/105596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}