<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1662469929034,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1662469929034,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_62469912", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1089205"} }); ","_id":"00000183-12ed-d5c1-ad97-b3edee280000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedPoliticians never stop campaigning. But for ordinary people, who have better things to do with their lives, election season traditionally starts today, immediately after Labor Day.
It’s two months before voters cast their ballots on Nov. 8 to choose who will control Congress for the remainder of Joe Biden’s presidential term. Now is when the disquiet that citizens may feel over not being listened to or at being lied to by Washington will crystallize into a decision about which way to vote.
Will Democrats keep their grip on the House and the Senate? Will they lose one of them, probably the House? Or might Republicans take over both, leaving Biden to face a solidly oppositional Capitol Hill for two more years?
MIDTERMS 2022: TRACKING THE ISSUES THAT MATTER TO VOTERS AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY
Washington often seems woefully out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people. Biden’s White House, for example, initially dismissed supply chain breakages, which turbocharged inflation, as being a chichi problem that affected no one except wealthy people annoyed that their exercise bikes weren’t delivered on time. That sort of detachment from, and indifference to, reality tends to play poorly when citizens are filling out their ballots.
Polls for months have indicated that inflation, sometimes expressed as “the economy” or “gas prices” or “grocery shopping,” is much the most potent issue on voters’ minds.
BLUE SHOOTS OF RECOVERY: DEMS SEE HOPE FOR MIDTERM ELECTIONS WITH SURPRISING RESULTS
But polling is patchy, and the Washington Examiner intends in the midterm home stretch to help readers (and maybe a few wise politicians) get a clear view of what ordinary people are thinking about most. Trends on Google indicate that education, inflation, taxes, crime, and abortion are among the top political issues searched for by people browsing the internet.
The Washington Examiner has decided to track these five issues from now until Nov. 8, highlighting them both nationally and in key states and races. These stories will include charts of rolling 30-day Google Trends so you can see if issues are rising or falling in importance.
The five topics notably don’t include immigration or gun control, but as matters stand, those subjects, though important, don’t figure as highly in raw search numbers as the ones we’ve chosen.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Google Trends data do not amount to scientific proof of what is driving public opinion during the election season. But we think they cast light on some of the things November’s voters will have on their minds when they make their decision.
Wise politicians will adapt to that.
