There’s a longstanding debate over the reasons for the Republican victory in last year’s midterm elections. On one side are those who say the great shellacking was inevitable because of America’s high unemployment rate. On the other are those who say that the Democratic policy agenda shouldn’t be dismissed as an important factor.

Well, Stanford political scientists David Brady, Morris Fiorina, and Douglas Rivers have a great piece in the new Policy Review that lends support to those who say that health care and cap and trade worsened the Democrats’ losses: