Obama Policies Lead Dems To Defeat
Only few hours after the close of the first polling stations in the United States, TV networks started reporting that the House of Representatives was taken back by the Republicans, who also made some progress in the Senate, not enough to take control of it though.
The Republicans were able to win the 39 seats they needed for success in the lower house, which was in the hands of Democrats since the legislative elections of 2006, 435 seats were in play.
Both CNN and NBC projected that the right would win close to 60 seats.
This will be the first time in 80 years that the House of Representatives does not change hands along with the Senate.
One of the keys to Democrats big defeat was abstention among its constituencies, particularly young people, in contrast to the enthusiasm among Republicans at the time of going to vote.
The independents also were in favor of the Republicans, by a margin of fifteen points.
Obama, who came to the White House on January 20, 2009 with a popularity of 70% and with the promise of “Yes We Can,” has failed to respond to the expectations, of those who voted for him then.
Unpopular reform measures like health care, contributed to the decline of Democrats’ popularity – the huge growth of the budget deficit which was used to stimulate the economy after the 2008 financial crisis also contributed to the ruling party’s fall from grace.
Their great weakness has been the economy, which they promised would be the top priority of their mandate is still to this day in an unfortunate situation.
The exit polls highlighted that four out of ten voters thought they were worse off now than two years ago. Two out of three said the economy was their biggest concern.
Obama and his administration are facing a new political landscape, a dire return to reality, long gone are the days of soaring rhetoric and rock star treatment.
