The coming Republican wipe-out

All the evidence points to a disastrous midterm shellacking for the GOP

A surfing elephant.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Orla/iStock, Paul Campbell/iStock, andrej67/iStock, IvonneW/iStock)

What if Republicans have an epic wipe-out in November's midterm elections?

All the evidence points to a disastrous GOP belly flop. We know that the party that holds the White House typically loses seats in Congress during a midterm election. That would be the case even if President Trump were popular. But he isn't. True, he was doing notably worse a year ago, with his approval ratings hovering between 36 and 38 percent. For the past three months he's bounced around in a narrow range of 41 to 43 percent. That's an improvement — but it's still historically low. And when it's combined with his consistently very high disapproval rating, we're left with a president regularly and significantly underwater by anywhere from 9 to 20 points. And this is the case in the midst of a boom economy, with unemployment near historic lows and growth relatively robust.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.