We Voted for a Stalemate?

In light of the congressional midterm election results, Republicans are clearly regaining control of both the House and Senate. However, the fact that Democrats still maintained control of the Senate begs the question: Was this a nationalized election, or were people still voting along party lines?

Of course, it doesn’t have to be only one or the other; both possibilities could have played a role in this election. But consider how people were predicting that Republicans would sweep the nation’s votes. According to pollingreport.com, regardless of how people planned to vote, the majority of the American public was convinced that Republicans would win control of the House. And they did. Media sources and even political analysts such as Charlie Cook fueled this popular notion that Republicans would sweep the House votes, otherwise known as the GOP wave. Election results, however, show that this wave was welcome only in the House and not in the Senate. Thus, it is important to note that there is a difference between acknowledging the GOP wave and acting on it. If this wave was supposed to be so big, why were the Republicans able to dominate only in the House?

While there may have been strong anti-Democrat sentiment on a national level with people propelling talk about the GOP wave, many people still voted along party lines. Different voting habits of the American population fueled this split in Congress and will inevitably set the tone for the next few terms. Slate notes that the “polls don’t show much affection for the new co-leaders of American politics.” Now that Americans have voted for the next best thing (or the second-worst, depending on how you look at it), Republicans, to control half of Congress, this will inevitably have Democrats and Republicans countering each other’s motives in their respective powerhouses, leading to a stalemate.