If three weeks ago the blues (the color of the Democratic Party) in both the Senate and the House of Representatives felt confident in their chances ahead of the November 8 midterm elections, now the situation has changed.
They have been backed by the enactment of a bold tax and climate reform bill, but momentum is fading along with hopes of a backlash by voters against the Conservative Supreme Court for its June decision to repeal the right to abortion.
On Tuesday, Biden promised in a speech that if Democrats maintained control of Congress after the November elections, he would enshrine the right to abortion in the country.
His commitment is an effort to mobilize the Democratic base a few days before the legislative elections that take nothing for granted, but that seems to be starting to pick Republicans.
“The first bill I would send to Congress would be to codify the Roe v. Case. Referring to the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion here half a century ago, which the same court overturned in June,” Biden said.
He called the president to vote “if you want to protect a woman’s right to choose!” In this sense, from Howard’s theater in this capital, he stressed the importance of the upcoming elections.
Addressing young voters in particular, he said, “I ask the American people to remember how they felt on the day an extreme court decision was made,” and concluded by saying, “Vote, vote, vote!”
However, the mobilization of voters will actually be through the issue of the economy, which is the most important problem facing the country at the moment, and not abortion, according to opinion polls.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only one in 10 respondents mentioned abortion as the most pressing issue at the moment.
For its part, the same investigation showed that the president’s approval rating hovered around only 40 percent, with voters increasingly concerned about the economic situation and rampant inflation.
The result indicated that Biden’s numbers were unchanged from a poll a week ago, but that he is approaching the lowest point of his presidency, having previously seen a modest improvement.
The Democrats received oxygen in the middle election cycle after the Supreme Court decision, until then the Republican Party (Reds) had comfortably led the general vote for Congress and major races.
Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont Independent), eyeing a potential presidential run in 2024, warned that the Democratic Party has spent too much time talking about abortion rights and not enough on economic inequality.
He said stronger laws are needed to help Americans who are struggling to pay for health care, medicine and other basic needs.
Today, many Democratic lawmakers insist that the president’s unpopularity is a drag on their prospects.
midterm elections renewed 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 out of 100 seats in the Senate; 36 governorships and other positions at the state and local levels also play a role.
The Reds only need five more seats to regain the House of Representatives and one to gain a majority in the Senate.
The party of the incumbent always loses ground in midterm elections, and it has done so in all but two contests since the end of World War II in 1945.
Projections are that the Democrats could lose their narrow majorities in one room or both houses, a scenario that would not have been good for two years that would have left Biden in the executive palace and, without a doubt, a bad omen for the blues in the 2024 presidential
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