Midterm elections are typically a segue to the presidential election. Millions of dollars are spent on an election that few people turn out for, except for the passionate Republican base. With this election, the Republican Party is poised to take the Senate over after eight years of Democratic control. It presents a troubling future for the last two years of the Obama presidency, with the goals of the administration in desperate peril.
While this election is for the congressmen and senators of the nation, many voters make their decisions with Barack Obama in mind. The president’s disapproval rate is rising as of late, with 53 percent of likely voters viewing him unfavorably according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. These low ratings are causing Democratic candidates to distance themselves from the president, move away from his policies and prevent him from campaigning for some of them. Candidates such as Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is looking to unseat Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, went as far to refuse to admit whether she voted for the president in 2012, an issue on which she received heavy criticism. Because of this Democratic ambivalence, voters are hesitant to embrace any candidates in the same party as the president.
With a Republican Senate and partisan politics of the day, the White House will be forced to pass more executive orders in order to achieve its agenda. Executive orders elicit an angry reaction in the Republican Party, and voters see the president ruling without the popular support of the people. Congress, in turn, will pass bills that are ignorant to the true desires of the American people, yet position themselves favorably in the eyes of their base. Republicans have the chance to reform their party this way, passing bills in line with a new agenda that could help form the winning stance needed to win back the White House in 2016. They can revitalize themselves among their base and disenchanted Democrats. Progressive issues pushed by the president such as workplace equality, minimum wage and environmental protection will fall by the wayside of the partisan politics and endless bickering.
Recent reports suggest that if the Republicans take the Senate, Hillary Clinton, a leading polling candidate in the 2016 presidential race, might be forced to announce her intention to run sooner than expected. While frequently viewed as the future of the Democratic Party, she faced a backlash from voters who fear her potential presidency would be the third and fourth terms of the Obama administration. A potential Congressional Republican win would force her to get herself out the gate sooner and on the defense, fighting against the politics that could bring her down.
Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, go out and vote for your best interests. Keep in mind the future of the nation. The results of the midterm election will impact Obama’s presidency and the 2016 election. No election is an insignificant one — whether through voting on campus or through absentee ballot, help ensure that this election does not fall victim to a lack of civic participation.