Voter Anger Might Mean An Electoral Shift in '06

Public Voices Dissatisfaction Over Iraq War, Economy

One year before the 2006 midterm elections, Republicans are facing the most adverse political conditions of the 11 years since they vaulted to power in Congress in 1994. Powerful currents of voter unrest -- including unhappiness over the war in Iraq and dissatisfaction with the leadership of President Bush -- have undermined confidence in government and are stirring fears among GOP candidates of a backlash. Interviews with voters, politicians and strategists in four battleground states, supplemented by a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, found significant discontent with the performance of both political parties. Frustration has not reached the level that existed before the 1994 earthquake, but many strategists say that if the public mood further darkens, Republican majorities in the House and Senate could be at risk.

One bright spot for the Republicans is the low regard in which many Americans hold the Democrats. The public sees the Democrats as disorganized, lacking in clear ideas or a positive alternative to the GOP agenda, and bereft of appealing leaders. In the Post-ABC News poll, voters gave Washington low grades without favor: Just 35 percent said they approved of the job Republicans in Congress were doing, while only 41 percent gave a positive rating to the Democrats.

In shopping malls, town hall meetings and on front porches, Americans expressed their concerns about the country's problems. The president still has strong supporters, but more common are questions about his and the country's priorities. A young mother in the Denver suburbs complained about the state of public education. An Ohio retiree complained about energy prices and said, "We're getting ripped off left and right by the oil companies." Immigration appears to be a volatile issue far from the U.S.-Mexico border. And looming over all else is the U.S. involvement in Iraq, which continues to gnaw at the country's psyche.

Republicans strategists and candidates are bracing for losses next year, while hoping that Bush's fortunes and the overall environment improve. They take some comfort in the expectation that the worst of times has come a year ahead of the elections, and relief in the fact that, by historical measures, the number of genuinely competitive contests is likely to be small.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501514.html

with no check like voter-verified paper ballots, I don't see how voter anger can affect election results.

How is it that the polls show the Republicans losing support like a leaky boat takes on water and yet, somehow, they once again retain their majorities in both houses of Congress? That of course, assumes that any one chooses to ask that question and that the media chooses to cover it.

To a certain degree, the fact that unverifiable voting hasn't been tackled in public in a major way almost precludes anything being done about it in the less-than-a-year to elections.

If this continues, what little coverage it gets will just be used to show the Democrats as delusional. The orthodoxy will be that even with all the mistakes and problems, people prefer the Republicans.

Of course, the term "real men" and the posturing of the thugs in power is simply primitive bullying, but that's what the reactionaries are and do.

and with complicit media and with gutless Democratic girlie-men who believe they were the victims of election fraud but never utter a word about it.

We may be on the cusp of a permanent(in poltiical terms) shift of a few points from the Republicans to the Democrats and that would create a natural Democratic majority for the next couple decades much like there has been a natural GOP majority for the past 25 years. By natural, I mean in an average election voters are likely to vote for one party's candidate over another.

Election Fraud

"Contract with America" did not exist until a month before the '94 elections. Bush offered nothing as a candidate and said he would give his ideas in detail after he was elected.

redistricting that's been going on since 1994 makes it just about impossible for any incumbent to be challenged. It's sad when over 400 house seats are up but only 20-30 are considered real races.