What does this Mid-term election indicate? A completely fractured mandate with Democrats holding onto control of the Senate while Republicans may narrowly control the House of Representatives, is actually a reflection of the US younger generation standing up against Trump and his neo-Fascist, neo-Nazi sympathizers.While Biden’s approval rating is only around 44%, it is unprecedented in the recent past that the presidential party is not getting wiped out in the mid-term election. In last 40 years, only twice has a presidential party had decent results in a mid-term election. Democrats did well in 1998 when Clinton’s approval was 68%, and Republicans did well in 2002, the year after the Sept. 11th attack, when Bush Jr’s approval rating was still 63%. But with 44% approval for a president, this year’s results are unprecedented.
Biden’s presidency kept some of his electoral promises while some of them are still pending.Economic inflation and gas prices have hit middle-class and working-class people hard. It was expected that Biden won’t be able to control corporate America’s greed beyond a certain point, but at least he spoke out against the oil companies. Trump’s presidency had created a degree of chaos and instability, along with his inhumane policies towards immigration, healthcare, corporate tax cuts etc. However, under Biden, the USA could breathe a bit at last, away from the Trump ruckus.
So, even though Americans are not happy with the economic situation or the handling of Ukraine-Russia war or the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan; the younger generation didn’t want to go back to the era of uncertainty. They care about their education loan debt relief, want a minimum wage of $15/hour, LGBTQIA+ rights, and last but not least, abortion rights.
A night that expected a Republican tsunami saw most of the Trump supporters, Trump sympathizers and election deniers losing in Senate, House, and Governor’s races. It saw almost all the progressive and left-liberal forces in the Democratic party winning and bettering their vote shares from the presidential elections two years previously. It also saw some“establishment” Democrats, agents of Corporate America like Sean Patrick Maloney, losing their races. A progressive Black candidate like Stacey Abrams lost the governor’s race in the state of Georgia to Republican Brian Kemp. Kemp is the same Republican governor who stood up against Donald Trump during the 2020 Presidential race and certified Georgia’s counting. A formerly Democratic state like Florida can now be officially called a Republican state from this election too. Ron DeSantis, a rival of Trump in Republican Party, had a big win in Florida. There is a huge population of Cuban-Americans in Florida, who are rabidly against any hint of socialist or progressive policies. The more the Democratic Party is tilting towards the Left, the more Florida is shifting towards theRight (i.e., Republican).
The data analysis clearly shows that people over 40 and those without any college education showed strong support for conservative Republicans, while people 40 and under, and those who had some university education favored progressives and Democrats. The far-right tried to threaten the voters by spreading rumors of anticipation of violence on the polling day. But that did not help. Very many people came out to vote despite the false threat. And even though voter turnout may seem to have been miniscule, it was still significant, keeping the US tradition of verylow voter turnout in the mid-term election in mind.
November has been a month of hope so far in the Americas. First, in Brazil, in the southern part of the hemisphere, Lula won against the far-right tyranny of Bolsonaro in the Brazilian presidential election, giving a great hope to leftists and liberals world-wide. For the first time in history, almost an entire continent, South America,has become red. The far-right cabal, most prominently comprised of Trump, Bolsonaro, Benjamin Netanyahu, Boris Johnson, Erdogan and Narendra Modi, is gradually losing its members and power. The wave that started by removing Trump from power created a ripple effect throughout the world. The most recent election results in Brazil and the US midterm are the continuation of the same.
Working class people of America have been fighting for a long time, a fight against thecorporations, neo-fascists and crooks. Young America has showedits characterthis week, as Brazilians showed their choice the week before. A fight for equitable distribution of wealth, a fight for social justice, a fight for women’s freedom over their bodies, a fight for LGBTQIA+ rights, a fight against powerful corporations, a fight against the 0.01% of richest billionaires, a fight against the ongoing climate catastrophe, is the way forward for a better world. The US midterm election indicates that not all hopes are yet lost.
