Key issues precede the midterm elections

With the midterm elections approaching on Tuesday, several key issues have influenced and guided the directions of election campaigns. From new developments to continuing problems, issues span the social, economic and political spheres. 

One major issue that AP U.S. Government student Emmett Chung (12), who has been following the midterm closely, believes will influence election results is the current state of the U.S. economy, as economic issues remain from the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation rates have risen recently.

“Voters generally are going to ascribe whatever happens to the economy to the party in power, even though sometimes it is out of the control of President Biden,” Emmett said. “He couldn’t have predicted that Putin was going to invade Ukraine or that the pandemic was going to happen, but that’s one of the major factors that has [many] predicting that the House will flip to the Republicans, and that the Senate is also a toss up.” 

Currently, according to predictions by Politico, the House will likely lean Republican, and the Senate is still a toss-up but is predicted to result in a Republican majority. 

In addition, upper school U.S. History teacher James Tate and current AP U.S. Government student Trisha Variyar (12) have both highlighted the overturning of Roe v. Wade from June as another key issue that has been a focus of both Democrats and Republicans. Tate points out the situation as an example of the current polarization in the nation as the debates surrounding abortion have led to some predicting a change in suburban women votes.

“For me, the tragedy of this is that it’s another example of where we are in terms of really polarized black-and-white thinking,” Tate said. “I have not heard anyone in the cultural narrative point out the standard set in Roe v. Wade was in fact itself a pretty decent compromise on the issue of abortion. People rushed to sort of take to the battlements of this issue, that it really makes me, as a lover of history, weep, because compromise is so rare and such a good thing.”

In addition, Emmett notes the significance of several other voter populations that played key roles in the 2016 elections and the struggles of the Democratic party in the United States, among other nations, to maintain that support. 

“I think there’s this soul searching that a lot of center-left parties have been encountering in other countries; there’s this inherent dilemma between trying to maintain your bases of support, which generally come from a combination of working class, those blue-collar voters that delivered the election to Trump in 2016, and minority voters, as well as young people,” Emmett said. 

Emmett predicts that one change to this year’s elections may be increased allegations about “stolen” elections, especially with the increase in mail-in voting that may skew initial predictions. Trisha also emphasized candidates’ heavy use of social media as a new development in recent years, with President Trump’s pioneering of social media as a way for candidates to communicate with the general population. In addition, she expects more battleground states to emerge this year in comparison to previous elections.

“I think that there’s gonna be a lot more battleground states than there were in previous years,” Trisha said. “So I think that even if the outcome of the elections doesn’t necessarily change, like for example, even if Texas maintains red, even if Oregon maintains its blueness, I think that the actual fight between the candidates is going to be a lot closer.”

Registered voters can deliver their ballots at drop-off locations on Nov. 8 for Election Day. View California’s drop-off locations here and California’s 2022 Election Guide here.