Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis criticized several elements of President Donald Trump's second-term agenda on the eve of the midterms, arguing that the prolonged Iran conflict, higher gasoline prices and the administration's handling of immigration enforcement had contributed to a difficult political environment for the GOP. In an interview with Stephen A. Smith on his podcast Straight Shooter, the term-limited governor said Democrats had "more momentum" heading into Tuesday's elections and claimed Republican campaigns and committees were seeing some of the same warning signs reflected in public polling.
"The polls you're seeing that show the Democrats making potentially big gains, those numbers are the same that Republican campaigns are getting right now, Republican committees," DeSantis said. "When you're in a midterm cycle, it tends to go against the party in power. I think we're seeing some of those headwinds." DeSantis argued that Republicans were confronting voter dissatisfaction over inflation, gasoline prices and the Iran conflict.
"Our candidates are running into the wind on that," he said. "And the Democrats have more momentum." Final forecasts of the midterms have pointed to a “blue wave” for the Democratic Party. Historically, the party in the White House loses seats in the midterms, so Democrats have been optimistic about their chances to flip control of Congress.
That optimism has grown as Trump’s approval rating has fallen amid voter frustration with the state of the economy and cost of living. Polls have given Democrats an edge in the battle to control the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as in key U.S.
As of Monday, RealClearPolitics gave Democrats an 8.8-point lead on the generic ballot. Nate Silver is bullish on Democrats’ chances to win the Senate. His polling aggregate gave them an edge in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, while pointing to very close races in Louisiana, Nebraska and South Carolina.
On the generic ballot, his forecast gave Democrats a 9.4-point lead, which would be the largest for either party in the national popular vote since 2010. The last forecast by Elliott Morris' FiftyPlusOne model gave Democrats a 99 percent chance of winning the House, a 79 percent chance of flipping the Senate and a 79 percent chance of securing both the Senate and House. Natalie Baldassarre, the national press secretary for the Republican National Committee, told Newsweek on Monday that polls historically “underestimate support for Republicans.” “Polls may suggest one thing, but the American people get the final say, and Republicans remain laser-focused on driving voters to the polls, defying history, and protecting our majorities,” she said.
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