No Red Wave in the U.S. mid-term elections?
PARK HYUN-YOUNGThe author is the Washington correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo.
I am easy to convince. When I hear A’s argument, I think A is right, but after hearing B’s opinion, I also find it reasonable. That’s what happened when I covered the midterm elections in Georgia. Emily, a 33-year-old Democrat in Atlanta, saw the election as an opportunity to bring Republicans’ opposition to abortion rights to judgment. She criticized that the idea of regulating abortion was “a pregnant woman, a doctor and the government getting together in the clinic and making a joint decision.” She also thought that those who claimed that former President Donald Trump won the last presidential election running as Republican candidates was a threat to democracy.
Shirley, a Republican in her 60s living in the small town of Ringgold, raised her voice that abortion was a trampling on the rights of the fetus, a key interested party. If one cannot afford to raise a child, a social solution should be sought rather than resorting to abortion. She shared the story of raising a grandchild her daughter had after she was raped. “It is against the rule of law to open the border and accept illegal immigration,” she also said.
The two were as different as if they were from different planets. The tight race was confirmed in the election results. In the Senate, Democrats and independents secured 50 seats, beating the Republican’s 49 seats. The Republicans likely would be a majority in the House, but the difference in seats will be minimal. In the end, the Red Wave did not happen.
The decisive factor was Trump. He supported those loyal to him as candidates even though their competency was not verified, and they all lost in swing states of Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada. The fear of Trump’s re-emergence overweighed the pains of inflation. Generally, the mid-term elections are an interim report card on the current president’s policy. Former president Bill Clinton lost 52 House seats in the first term, Barack Obama lost 63. This time, this formula was broken as voters brought the former president, not the incumbent, to judgment.
Some analysts say American society is more divided than ever, making it structurally impossible for the Republicans to have a landslide victory from the beginning. Democrats vote for the Democratic Party despite serious inflation, and the Republicans embrace the Republican Party despite Trump’s flaws. In the solid two-party structure, the Republican Party has a chance of winning only when it can persuade moderate Democrats or independent voters. But the “healthy moderates” who can empower the opposition and bring tension to the government are gradually losing ground. That can happen in the next elections in Korea, which is just as divided as the United States.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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