One of the top Democratic pollsters has seen the numbers, and they do not look good for Democrats heading into the 2014 midterm elections. In fact, the midterm elections could be disastrous for Democrats.
The New York Times reports that turnout for Democrats in November could be “historically” bad and polls have shown that Republicans–especially those aligned with the Tea Party–are more enthusiastic about the upcoming elections than Democrats.
“I’m worried this could be a disaster,” Celinda Lake, the top Democrat pollster, told the New York Times.
The Times notes that the very young voters Obama tried to appeal to with Obamacare have “have abandoned the midterm electorate at more than twice the rate of seniors.” In addition, “Hispanics, who favored Mr. Obama by a margin of 44 percentage points, have voted at just two-thirds the rate of whites” while “unmarried women, the source of the Democratic advantage with women, vote less often than their married counterparts.”
Aware of this reality, Vice President Joe Biden sent out an email on Sunday warning Democrats that they can lose Congress to more conservative candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Republicans need to gain a net of six seats to take back the Senate and likely control Congress. Election forecaster Nate Silver has predicted that Republicans have a 60% chance to take back the Senate. Another predictive model gives Republicans an 80% chance of taking back the Senate.