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19 May, 2014
In the United States, congressional elections are less than six months away. But some Democratic Party activists are already worried about the election results. They believe Democratic voters will show less intensity than Republican Party voters in November. Mario Ritter takes an early look at the political likes and dislikes of Americans nationwide.
More Americans vote in presidential election years than in other years. Twenty fourteen is a non-presidential election year, and that concerns President Barack Obama and other Democrats.
Republicans are hoping for voter dissatisfaction with the president and the nation's health care law, says political observer Charlie Cook.
"In a presidential election year, the turnout is big, it's diverse and it looks more or less like the country. But in mid-term elections, when the turnout is smaller, it's older, it's whiter, it's more conservative, it's more Republican. It's just real different."
That presents a huge test for Democrats. Celinda Lake works for the Democratic Party. She studies information about likely voters. She says a huge issue for the Democrats is just who will be voting in November. She says the party is concerned about Latinos, African-Americans, unmarried women and young people who are dissatisfied with the economy.
Republican candidates are expected to talk about the president and health care during the election campaign. John Boehner is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He thinks the Republicans also have to talk about the economy.
"You know whenever I go around the country, I think it takes some audacity to call for greater cooperation amongst nations on the economy when they won't even focus on the jobs issues that we've got right here in America that need to be resolved."
Karlyn Bowman studies politics for the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute. She says the Republicans are expected to hold their majority in the House. And she thinks they could make enough gains in the elections to retake the Senate.
"These Senate contests are such high-stakes contests. The Republicans would desperately like to win control of the Senate and actually have a decent margin in the Senate in order to try to move some of their own issues along."
Americans will fill 36 of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 House seats in the November elections. I'm Mario Ritter.
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