If Dems lose, blame is on them
It’s Election Day, 2022, and it’s all over but the shouting.
There will be plenty of that, once votes are counted and the final results roll in around the country. And if Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen’s predictions are anything to go by, shouts from the Democratic side won’t be ones of joy.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Rosen declared that Democrats are going to have a “bad night” on Election Day because the party failed to listen to the most urgent needs of voters.
“I’m a loyal Democrat, but I am not happy … we did not listen to voters in this election and I think we are going to have a bad night,” Rosen said. “When voters tell you over and over and over again that they care mostly about the economy — listen to them.”
It wasn’t just voters who sounded the alarm on issues important to the electorate — political experts and commentators have been dispensing predictions similar to Rosen’s for months.
A lot of good it did them. As The Hill reported, poll after poll has revealed that inflation and the economy are the top issues for voters heading into the midterms today, but Democrats have been campaigning to the beat of their own drum.
Democrats went into overdrive after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer, moving abortion rights to the top of campaign talking points. They had a bump in the polls and were off to the races. But by betting the farm on abortion, they neglected the effects rising inflation was having on American families.
As it stands, pizza is looking good as an affordable Thanksgiving dinner.
They’ve missed many chances to address voters’ needs. Joe Biden raised a grim specter when he warned that democracy was on the line. In a speech last week, Biden asked Americans to stand up against lies, violence and dangerous “ultra MAGA” election disruptors who are trying to “succeed where they failed” in subverting the 2020 elections, as the Associated Press reported.
“There’s an alarming rise in the number of people in this country condoning political violence or simply remaining silent,” Biden added. “In our bones we know democracy is at risk, but we also know this: It’s in our power to preserve our democracy.”
This “we’re good, they’re bad” position doesn’t do much for his supposed mission to unite the country, nor will it win over any of the 74 million people who voted Republican in 2020.
That Biden’s message is a flop isn’t lost on Rosen.
“Stop talking about democracy being at stake,” she said. “Democracy is at stake because people are fighting so much about what elections mean.”
According to most polls, voters care most about inflation, crime and immigration. They will likely fill in their ballots accordingly, and if all goes as forecast, the GOP will have a happy Wednesday morning. Then what? Democrats can either take the opportunity to focus on rising prices, rising crime rates and illegal immigration, reaching across the aisle to pass legislation that will benefit everyday Americans, or they can stay the course and continue to blame Vladimir Putin, fossil fuels and corporate greed for the country’s ills.
No crystal ball needed here.