Opinion: There’s one person to blame for Republicans’ thumping at the polls

Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

CNN
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The results of the 2022 midterm election have not been fully tallied and the crucial question – who will control Congress? – has not been answered. But on this day after, we can draw some initial conclusions.

First, there was no red wave, much less a red tsunami. Predictions of a huge Republican victory at the polls did not materialize. It was a deeply disappointing election for the GOP. In addition, it was a disastrous day for former President Donald Trump, who had hoped a Republican landslide would place him on a glide path to the nomination to become the party’s presidential candidate in 2024.

Whatever we find when all the votes are counted, it was a fine day for American democracy.

That’s because the movement spearheaded by Trump and his election deniers performed much worse than expected. Even some of the most dramatic Republican victories looked like a rebuke of Trump and his band of anti-democratic activists.

It was supposed to be a shellacking of President Joe Biden, but it was Trump who got the thumping.

In exit polls, 28% of voters said they chose their House vote “to oppose Donald Trump.” And just 37% said they had a favorable view of the former president, the presumed GOP front-runner, at least before this election. That should alarm the party.

On election night, Trump told an interviewer, “I think if [Republicans] win, I should get all the credit. If they lose, I should not be blamed at all.” But the evidence strongly suggests he deserves much of the blame.

For the past 100 years, the average midterm gain in the House of Representatives for the opposition party is 29 seats. This year, Republicans needed just five seats, a goal that seemed so reachable that practically every pollster predicted the GOP would easily clear it, especially given the high inflation rate and Biden’s relatively low approval. But Republicans are struggling to clear that low bar.

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