Top Democrats are scrolling back the braggadocios talk about a big “Blue Wave” that will sweep Republicans out of the majority in Congress as the mid-term elections draw near.
As far back as February, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats were hailing a veritable tsunami that would crash on conservative candidates and put progressives back in power. They put a great deal of stock in the ”generic” poll that checks the temperature of the country at large.
Left-leaning CNN pegged the numbers at 54 Democrat and 38 Republican back in February and that lead prompted a false sense of confidence in liberal extremists such as Pelosi. These days, the generic poll is deadlocked at 44 percent for each party, according to Rasmussen, and Pres. Donald J. Trump’s approval rating is reportedly better than Obama’s at the same time in his first term. The generic poll trend has Democrats downshifting their rhetoric.
“People ask me all over the country, ‘Is it a wave, or is it a tsunami?’ And I said, well, in either case, it’s little drops of water. And many of them. How many a wave, how many more a tsunami. But they’re all close. They’re all very, very close. These are many close races,” Pelosi reportedly said.
The gap between the early September polling narrowed from a 12- to 13-point Democrat lead to seven points in early October to a tie as Halloween approaches. That’s spooky stuff if you are a far-left liberal.
But the shift seemed almost predictable. During the Brett Kavanaugh U.S. Supreme Court nomination hearings, Senate Democrats ran roughshod over the once respected process. They hurled horrible, uncorroborated accusations at a man who earned a reputation as an exemplary judge, husband, father, and Christian. The dirt they threw clung to the Democratic Party.
Zealots such as California Rep. Maxine Waters have called for harassment and former Obama-era attorney general Eric Holder has pushed for physical violence against Americans that disagree with the liberal way. It’s been a race to the bottom for leading Democrats that has left the party smeared in its own mud.
But the plummeting generic poll numbers tell only half the story. On the heels of Hillary condoning her ex-president husband’s illicit sexual behavior and Pres. Trump announcing the GOP plan to cut middle-class taxes by 10 percent, individual races show that Republicans could hold the majority in the U.S. House and even extend their majority in the Senate.
“A Republican net gain of a seat or two seems most likely, moving the GOP up to either 52 or 53 seats, though a gain of three seats or no net change (is) entirely possible,” the Cook Political Report states.
The Wall Street Journal/NBC poll still touts a generic advantage for Democrats, but the hard individual election numbers paint a different picture.
“The Democratic advantage has vanished in House districts that matter most. In districts rated as most competitive, the parties are dead even on which one should control Congress,” the WSJ writes.
The surge in GOP voter interest has been linked to the uptick in Pres. Trump’s swelling approval ratings. Recent polls show the president has gained ground among African-American and Latino voters. Astonishingly, even 10 percent of registered Democrats and 42 percent of Independents approve of the way he’s running the country. Pres. Trump has not been shy about parlaying his popularity into massive rallies to support GOP candidates across the country.
According to Real Clear Politics, 50 Senate seats now appear to be solidly Republican with 44 Democrat. Of the six so-called toss-up seats, Republicans hold slight leads in Arizona and Nevada. Missouri appears to be deadlocked.
In the House, Republicans appear to solidly hold 200 seats with 30 toss-ups. Of those close races, the GOP are incumbents in 29 of them. Republicans would only need to hold 18 seats to maintain a majority. With voter sentiment trending red, leading Democrats are preparing for the worst.
“A lot of people talk about this ‘blue wave’ and stuff,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who caucuses with Democrats reportedly said. “I don’t believe it.”
~ Liberty Planet
