"Voters Rebuke Democrats At Polls In Another Blow To Obama"

Extra Credit Post

Link: http://www.npr.org/2015/11/04/454600865/voters-rebuke-democrats-at-polls-in-another-blow-to-obama

Synopsis: In this article by Jessica Taylor, an exposition of the poor election cycle for Democrats since President Obama's election is explored. Although there is a strong coalition for the Democrats in the presidential years, more and more conservative voters are the ones coming to vote to polls during midterm and off-year elections. Since 2010, Democrats have lost majority in the House and the Senate. Governorships in states and State Legislators that were once Democrats have been replaced by Republicans. In the Southern states especially, even Democrat moderates have not done well as the last Southern Democrat lost his House seat last year and Republicans won four Senate seats in the South last year. In Kentucky, the second Republican governor in the past 40 years won with Matt Blevin. Virginia did not vote for a Democrat seat in the Senate even after the Democrats spent millions of dollars in ads in favor of gun-control. Even some Democrat sympathetic states like Ohio and Missouri voted against liberal policy. Ohio rejected a referendum to legalize marijuana and voters in Houston repealed a law that protected gay rights from discrimination.

Analysis: On election night in Kentucky, Blevin was victorious even though polls showed that Democrat Attorney General Jack Conway had an edge. The GOP once despised Blevin after he tried to beat Mitch McConnell in the Senate primary elections, and his victory represents the Democrats loss in one of the last Southern states they held support in. This is attributed to the anti-Obama tide of conservative voters who view the whole Democrat party in a negative connotation. In Virginia, Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe lost the state Senate to make it Democratic even after progressive agenda pushed in the past and $2.3 million in ads by Michael Bloomberg's gun-control group against two Republican candidates, even with the two reporters murdered on live television in Roanoke. In Ohio and Houston, progressive agenda pushed by Democratic Mayors and advocacy groups fell short as legislation protecting gay rights were repealed and a referendum for marijuana legalization was voted against. The opponents framed both as laws that threatened the safety of children, increased the chance for child predators, and a complete destruction to family values. Overall, this shows that the Democratic ideology lacks passion with more liberal American voters and that ideology that contrasts with Republican party agenda and might have been started by President Obama is pushing people to vote in order to keep Democrats out of state Senates and the House.