If Republicans haven’t started panicking already, now would be a good time to start. A new Washington Post-ABC poll finds Democrats enjoying a 14-point advantage over Republicans on a generic ballot heading into the midterms, all but ensuring a blue wave in November.
Chances are this isn’t just a temporary swell, either. The same pollsters recorded a 14-point advantage in favor of Democrats all the way back in January.
Historically these kind of numbers mean big swings electorally. The last three midterm elections — 2006, 2010, and 2014 — saw the party who controlled the White House lose control of the House of Representatives. It would seem then that Republicans aren’t just treading water. They are several feet under desperately trying to find the surface.
Not everyone recognizes, or is willing to recognize, the severity of the situation least of all President Trump. At the beginning of the month, Trump exuded an unparalleled if not substantiated optimism:
RED WAVE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2018
But the evidence says that the red wave is not coming. And this is despite the fact that Republicans have plenty of accomplishments they can run on. They cut taxes. They deregulated like fiends. They are about to confirm their second Supreme Court justice. This sort of success hasn’t translated into political capital, though. Even as the U.S. achieves a blazing 4 percent GDP growth, for instance, and 58 percent of Americans agree that the economy is improving, Republicans haven’t experienced an electoral bump.
There are two months and two days before election day. A lot can change between now and November, but it isn’t clear if any achievement could buoy Republicans at this point.
