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The Democrats' lost decade?
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Jun 19, 2013 06:32pm |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Author | Alex Isenstadt |
| News Date | Thursday, June 20, 2013 12:30:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "Democrats fell far short of winning the House in 2012, an otherwise banner year for the party, and many are privately glum about taking back the chamber in 2014.
But that grim immediate outlook raises a far more troubling longer-term prospect for Democrats: that the newly drawn congressional lines have tilted the electoral playing field so decisively in the GOP’s favor that the party could control the House through 2020.
That this, in other words, could be the Democrats’ Lost Decade.
Three of the past four elections have produced partisan upheaval, so political forecasting must be approached with caution. Democrats say projecting beyond next year, let alone next month, is a fool’s errand.
But strategists in both parties say they are still reckoning with the long-term implications of Democrats’ disastrous performance in 2010. Not only did they lose the House that year, but setbacks in state capitals meant that Republicans controlled the once-a-decade process of line drawing in 213 districts — nearly five times the number of districts Democrats had oversight over. And Republicans used that power with a vengeance.
The GOP effectiveness in erecting a gerrymandered fortress has created a paradox: Even in a fast-changing electorate, with many demographic trends favoring Democrats, the part of the national government that the Founders imagined would be most responsive to shifts in public opinion and voter behavior may actually be the least responsive." |
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