Washington - "Jerusalem" dot com - Saeed Erekat - As the American midterm elections campaign ends at the end of Monday, November 7, and American voters who did not cast their ballots early after seven o'clock in the morning (on the eastern shore) rushed to the polls, on Tuesday November 8, the United States is looking forward to a confusing future, and it is divided in an unprecedented way, on both sides of two ideological mountains separated by a deep valley that will be difficult to bridge in the near future.

The Democrats concluded their election campaign while facing the "nightmare" scenario, as they called it, on the eve of the elections, as economic concerns cast a shadow over the issues that the party tried to make its main issues, such as the issue of abortion or the issue of American democracy, which is threatened by the far-right control of the Republican Party's agenda.

On the other hand, the Republicans feel that they are holding a happy referendum on Joe Biden's faltering presidency and the failure to tame the inflation that ate everything.

As the last hurdles to mobilize voters ended, hopes that the Democratic President's Party could use a majority to overturn the Supreme Court's veto of the right to abortion and a wave of legislative victories to head off a classic midterm defeat for the incumbent party (as is the Democratic Party) faded. President Biden faces a bleak political environment due to the highest living (inflation) in 40 years and his hopes for a quick recovery next year are clouded by growing fears of a recession.

On the eve of the election, Democrats risk losing control of the House of Representatives as Republicans increasingly hope for a majority, not only in the 435-member House but also in the 100-member Senate, which would put Biden under siege by Republican majority as he begins his bid for re-election and with former President Donald Trump likely preparing to announce his intention to run in the 2024 presidential election.

Some experts advise against considering the victory of the Republican Party as a foregone conclusion, especially since there is ambiguity in the sincerity or accuracy of recent opinion polls, which may mean that no one can be sure of the size of the Republican Party wave (dubbed the red wave), especially since some believe that there is still a possibility In front of the Democratic Party to hold on to the Senate even if the House of Representatives loses. Note that the manner in which each side spoke on the eve of the election, in areas defended by the Democrats, provides a clear picture of the momentum of the Republican Party.

The politically divided American nation, united only by dissatisfaction with its path, is used to using the midterm elections again and again to punish the party that wields the most power. This means that the Democrats are the most exposed this time around.

And if the president's party suffers a defeat, if not overwhelming, there will be a lot of finger-pointing by Democrats at each other about the messaging strategy that Biden has adopted on inflation, a force that negatively affects because of the holes it has created in the budgets of tens of millions of American families. .

Expectations in the House of Representatives

The current Democratic majority in the House of Representatives on the eve of the elections (8/11/22) consists of 220 members compared to 212 for the Republican Party (out of 435 and three members do not belong to any party), and experts believe that the Republicans will win 16 additional seats to become a majority of 228, which he will lose Democrats to become a minority of 204, according to the latest Pew Institute poll released last Saturday evening.

Expectations in the Senate:

The Senate currently consists of 100 members, 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, but according to the US Constitution, the Vice President gives her vote to the Democratic Party, what it gave (and gives it a majority) and chairs all committees. And there are 35 members out of 100 running for their elections this cycle, and all that the Democrats hope is to preserve the current numbers 50 to 50 and the presidency of Vice President Camilla Harris until the end of President Biden’s term in 2024 so that he can pass some decisions.

Hot battles in the Senate:

There are four hot electoral battles in the Senate contests: First, the state of Pennsylvania in the northeastern United States, where the conservative Republican and supporter of former President Donald Trump, Mehmet Oz, who is of Turkish-Muslim descent, is competing with the deputy governor of Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, an American Jew, And the race still looks even.

In the state of Georgia, the race rages between the current senator for the Democratic Party, Raphael Warnack, who is a black priest, and between the Republican and the black American football player, Herschel Walker, who has no experience other than his adoption of conservative Republican principles no more, which made the two contestants They are so equal that it is difficult to reach decisive results after the end of the elections on Tuesday.

The third decisive state, is the state of Arizona in the American West, between the current Democratic member (former astronaut) Mark Kelly and his rival Blake Masters, who has a small percentage of his Democratic rival, according to the Republican Party's claim.

The decisive fourth state, Nevada, is between the current Democratic member, Catherine Cousteau Masto of Mexican descent, and her Republican rival, Adam Laxault, and reports indicate that they are also currently equal with the start of Tuesday's vote.

There is also a fifth semi-decisive state, New Hampshire in the northeast, where liberal Senator Maggie Hassan is competing against Republican Don Bolduc, a far-right supported by former President Trump, but she (Maggie Hassan) maintains a very slight advantage over him. Works for Maggie Hassan's rival, state governor, Chris Sununu, of Palestinian origin, whose father was John Sununu, governor of the state in the eighties of the last century before becoming chief of staff to President George H.W. Maggie Hassan.

Experts believe that President Biden's insistence, as he did last Thursday, in emphasizing the threat Trump poses to American political institutions, has not produced the desired positive results, since this essentially requires voters to prioritize the historical basis of the American political system over their most immediate economic concerns. .

This message, which resonates powerfully in Washington, D.C., where the scars of the Capitol rebellion led by former President Trump, on January 6, 2021, while important, do not concern many Americans in difficult economic conditions, where democracy seems like an esoteric concept. Far beyond the daily struggle of feeding a family and being able to afford the commute to work.

From Pennsylvania to Arizona, the return to normality after the Covid-19 nightmare that Biden promised remains elusive for many as the economic fallout from the once-in-a-century health emergency still looms large.

As night turned into day Tuesday, the difficult political environment for Democrats was revealed in a CNN/SSRS poll conducted last week, showing that about 51% of likely voters think the economy is the main issue in determining their vote, while 15% said Just that abortion is their primary issue, a finding that explains how the electoral battlefield tilts on Election Day.