US midterm election results: Political tensions rise

(Baonghean) - The history of the US election has repeated itself exactly as it did 10 years ago when the Republican Party, in the midterm elections on November 4, won full control of both houses of Congress. The change in the balance of power in Congress is expected to cause a lot of tension in US politics in the next two years.

The results of the midterm elections in the US were not surprising, with the Republican Party gaining control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, people still wonder why the Democratic Party was so "disadvantaged"? There are many reasons given by analysts. Firstly, the vote on November 4 took place in the context of the US economy having improved significantly over the past 6 years, but support for President Obama has continuously declined, even according to polls, Mr. Obama's support rate has fallen to a record low in the past 70 years.

This is the reason why experts have identified the recent vote as a referendum on President Obama's ability to govern. Due to the "falling" reputation of the White House owner, many Democratic candidates have sought to distance themselves and not invite him to campaign. On the contrary, Republican voters who are dissatisfied with President Obama's policies have enthusiastically gone to the polls, using their votes to help the party gain a stronger position in the legislature, seeing it as the first step towards the goal of winning the presidential seat to control the executive branch in 2016.

Republicans won the midterm elections.

Historically, midterm elections have always been unfavorable to the party of the US President. And this year is no exception. Another reason is that in this election, candidates from both parties, mainly the Republican Party, have "thrown" large sums of money into their election campaigns. According to statistics from the US Center for Responsive Politics, this midterm election is the most expensive in the political history of the United States, with a total cost of nearly 4 billion USD. This amount of money is enough to buy 25 modern F-18 fighter jets or pay for elementary and secondary school tuition for 12,000 students.

In addition to "dissecting" the causes of the Democratic Party's defeat, what people are paying most attention to now is how American politics will be after the balance of power in Congress has changed. Many international observers have the same answer, which is that American politics will be more tense after this situation. The Democrats losing the Senate means that President Obama will really face many difficulties in the last 2 years of his term. The first difficulty that President Obama will face is appointing senior personnel, which requires Senate approval. Congress also has the right to partially veto the President's right to send troops abroad (such as Iraq and Syria) in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief. That's not to mention a series of other domestic issues - including the budget, deficit, ObamaCare program, immigration policies, climate change and even the approval of the Keystone Pipeline Project... - where there are disagreements that are difficult to resolve between Republicans and Democrats.

In the economic field, experts say that Republican control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives will have a profound impact on the world's number 1 economy. It can be seen that the recent election took place in the context of stable US economic growth, partly thanks to Congress reaching an agreement in the "battle" over the budget. The previous dispute caused the US government to shut down and raised concerns that the federal government would fall into a state of technical default again. Control of both houses of the US Congress could encourage Republicans to intensify conflicts with the Democratic-controlled White House. However, it is still unclear how Republicans will lead the Senate. Almost no election campaign has outlined detailed policies.

Although the Republicans have control of the Senate, it will not be easy for the Republicans as they will not win enough 60 seats in the Senate to gain an absolute majority, and will certainly have to compromise to some extent with the Democrats. Observers also hope that the Republicans will agree to cooperate with Mr. Obama in some areas such as energy, taxes, signing free trade agreements, cyber security... At that time, the Republicans will create sympathy with voters to prepare for the 2016 war. However, whether the US political arena can solve the problems that have been pending for a long time or not still needs time to answer.

Thanh Huyen