Support growing for Senate republicans

Polling data shows many races shifted conservative after confirmation hearings

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RACHEL SUN | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE

After Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, polling data indicates that the “blue wave” in the Senate many had been predicting might not happen to the same degree.

SAAD NABIL ALI, Evergreen columnist

Despite the implication of an impending “blue wave” in Congress as a result of partisan smearing, the Senate will likely remain Republican after the midterm election cycle.

Twenty-six Democrat and nine Republican seats are up for reelection in November with all 26 Democratic seats held by incumbents and only six by Republicans in their respective states.

Stuart Elway, founder of Elway Research Inc., gave a speech at the Foley Institute discussing the various regions of Washington and where these regions generally agree in terms of voting. One point I felt really resonated with me and the nation at large was that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Polls leading into September certainly indicated a blue takeover of the Senate by large margins up until the days after Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings, which were terribly handled by Democrats.

“Democrats have led every week but one in mid-August when the two parties were tied at 44 percent apiece. But the Generic Congressional Ballot tightened up into a tie last week following the conclusion of the controversial Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” according to Rasmussen Reports.

Data suggests there has been a large shift in Senate election forecasts favoring Republicans after the treatment of Kavanaugh in the media and the mishandling of his sexual misconduct allegations.

Tennessee, Utah and Arizona are the three red states in which the incumbent will not be running. Nevertheless, Republicans still hold a good chance at keeping these seats.

Tennessee had originally reflected a very even race for U.S. representative between Democrat Phil Bredesen and Republican Marsha Blackburn in early September, but all polls taken after Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings and Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee has shown Blackburn skyrocketing, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.

Utah would also appear to be a lock, thanks to the Republican candidate running for the seat.

“Republicans are also running the most popular candidate imaginable for the open [senatorial] seat in Utah, Mitt Romney, who won 72.6 percent of the vote there in the 2012 election,” according to the National Review.

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson had as high as a seven-point lead over Republican Gov. Rick Scott in the Senate race prior to Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, according to realclearpolitics.com. The polls compiled now suggest that Arizona, since the Kavanaugh controversy, has become a much closer race.

North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, Montana and Missouri are all red states in which President Donald Trump received more than 50 percent of the vote during the 2016 presidential election.

At any rate, most of public has likely had enough of feeling manipulated by Democratic officials for political gain.

Sixty-two percent of all voters are angry about the U.S. Senate’s treatment of Kavanaugh, with 42 percent who are very angry. Fifty-six percent are angry about how the Senate treated Ford, including 35 percent who are very angry, according to Rasmussen Reports.

This anger has manifested in a sense of urgency to exercise the right to vote these officials out of office.

Sixty-two percent of Republicans are more likely to vote because of the Kavanaugh controversy, compared to 54 percent of democrats and 46 percent of voters not affiliated with either major political party, also according to Rasmussen Reports.

The partisan break in the urgency to vote demonstrates that many Republican voters feel a strong obligation to resist Democratic agendas that they feel devalue common principles of decency and fairness.

Overall, Democrats have failed to meet the obligation to represent the best interests of their constituents. The data shows many voters feel Democrats have lied, manipulated and escalated the tolerance for radical factions and many Americans have had enough.

After witnessing the lengths to which Democrats will go to ensure they remain in office, it seems most voters will head into the elections in November knowing that political pandering will not buy their vote.