US midterm elections: Trump faces voter backlash as Democrats eye House majority

US voters will deliver on Tuesday their verdicts on President Donald Trumps 21 months in his second term which has been marked by economic upheavals in from his tariffs and the Iran conflict that have hit citizens in this country and people around the worldPolls predict the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives while the Senates future hangs in the balance with lastminute turmoil in that party Trump appeared resigned on Monday to the possibility that his party might fare poorly in the midterm election as many polls have indicatedHe said in his final rally before Tuesdays balloting ldquoFor some reason the sitting president doesnrsquot win the midterms but we gave this a very strong shotrdquo He did indefatigably holding 30 rallies across 20 states in 32 days According to the White House he cancelled a rally in Michigan for the final campaign meeting in WashingtonSpeaking in front of the Washington Reflecting Pool he denounced the Democrats as communists and jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood members who would blow up his achievements With pictures of his efforts most of his speech was about beautifying the nations capital and hardly a mention of the economic issues roiling the electoratePolls show a big slide for Trump who won the 2024 election with 498 per cent of the votes and now RealClear Politics RCP aggregation of polls show overall support for Democrats in the Congressional elections at 521 per centAccording to the RCP average the job approval rating has slumped from 503 per cent in the first week of his second term to 391 per cent now and the disapproval rate has risen to 588 per cent The midterm election pitches his hold on his base and the others who had elected him against the realities of affordability the shorthand for peoples distress at the rise in pricesAlthough the economy grew by 34 per cent in the latest quarter a number considered by economists as a good performance the inflation rate was 37 per cent in September and its impact felt more strongly in prices of food and other everyday consumer itemsThat impact is propelled by both the tariffs Trump has imposed on imports and the multiplier effect of the spurt in petrol and diesel prices because of the conflict in the Hormuz Strait that he started with Israels Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuOf the total electorate of about 174 million 57 million had already voted either by mail or at early voting booths by Monday evening and the rest will have a chance to have their say on TuesdayFortysix per cent of the early voters registered along party lines were Democrats and 39 per cent Republicans according to NBC News tracking In the US citizens can register as members of a party to enable them to vote in the primaries the intraparty election to select candidates to represent the partyTrump will need a surge of his supporters at the polling booths on Tuesday to counter the early trend Three analyses from RCP CBS News and Cook Political Report CPR based on polls forecast a majority for the Democrats in the 435member House of Representatives making it a forgone conclusionThey range from Democrats getting at least 222 seats CPR to 229 CBS and 227 RCP Trumps hope for avoiding a complete rout lies in the Senate races which according to most polls and analyses are stuck in the tooclosetocall category without a clear winnerBut The New York Times latest Senate poll published on Sunday had Democrats leading in six of the seven key elections that could determine the majority and getting comfortable margins in most of them Democrats will have to overcome three controversies if they are to capture the 100member upper chamber where they now have 47 seatsOne of them is a lastminute development in Michigan where the Democratic Party leader who narrowly lost the Senate primary switched sides on Sunday and announced she would support the Republican on the ballot The Michigan seat is now held by the DemocratsHaley Stevens who lost the Democratic nomination to Abdul ElSayed and has been feuding with him stunned her party by announcing her support for Republican Mike Rogers A reason for that is that she had been disinvited from a conciliatory meeting in a church and because a group supporting the Democrat had run an ad blaming Israel for the rise in prices of everyday itemsIn Alaska the Democratic Party has been accused of getting an independent with the same name as the Republican candidate Dan Stevens separated by only a middle initial on the ballot to confuse voters A judge threw out a case filed by the Trump administration to block the election if the Republican lost and it is expected to fester with more appeals and suits should he loseThe Democrats fumbled in Maine where their original candidate had to withdraw amid allegations of sexual misbehaviour and they scrambled to find a replacement to run against the moderate Republican Susan Collins a 30year veteran of the Senate seeking her sixth termAlaska and Maine follow the rankedchoice system in which citizens vote for their candidate and mark a second choice that will be considered if no candidate gets at least 50 per cent of the votes in the first roundThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever