美国国家公共电台 NPR--How Democrats were able to perform better than expected in midterm elections

How Democrats¹ were able to perform better than expected in midterm elections

Transcript²

Democrats have retained their control of the Senate, but the House is still up for grabs. How will the midterm election results shape the two parties and their agendas moving forward?

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Despite most projections³, Democrats will go into the next Congress in control of the Senate. Their candidates won in pivotal races in Arizona and Nevada over the weekend.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Control of the House remains⁴ in the balance. Though, Republicans are on track to win a narrow majority.

FADEL: NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro joins us now. Good morning, Domenico.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE⁵: Hey. Good morning.

FADEL: So the Senate was always expected to be close. But Democrats have held onto it despite historic trends where the party in power does badly. And now they could even end up with a narrow majority if they win the runoff in Georgia next month. How did this happen?

MONTANARO: Yeah. I mean, a few things. And I think they're intertwined, you know, abortion⁶ rights, extreme, Trump-endorsed Republican candidates who lost in big numbers across the country, in swing states and districts, and good candidates from Democrats who held up. Clearly, abortion rights were a huge motivator for voters on not just the left, but also in the center and on the center-right.

FADEL: Yeah.

MONTANARO: It showed up big time in exit polls. It was even the top issue for voters in Pennsylvania overall. More than 60% of voters in key battleground states said they think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And in Arizona, 40% of voters said they were angry about the overturning of Roe⁷. And anger, we know, really motivates voters to get to the polls.

FADEL: Yeah.

MONTANARO: What the Supreme⁸ Court did was clearly seen among voters as too far. And the message overall with abortion and these more hard-right candidates is that people just don't want extremes.

FADEL: What about young voters? There have been assessments¹⁰ that suggest it was young voters that made the difference for the Democrats. Is that what happened?

MONTANARO: I think a lot of groups can make that claim. That was based on, really, one early assessment⁹ by Tufts University that found that young voters turned out at about a 27% rate. And if that holds, it would be the second-largest share that we've seen for young voters in quite some time and just short of their record in 2018. But that's only 27%. And it's lower than the share for almost every other generational group.

FADEL: OK.

MONTANARO: And it meant that because so many more groups did turnout at high levels that younger voters' share of the electorate¹¹ was still only about 12%, which is what it's been in past elections. And when it comes to the margins¹², they actually voted less for Democrats now than in 2018. And when looking at a couple of key counties where young voters make up a big percentage - say, Dane County in Wisconsin, where the University of Wisconsin is, and Center County in Pennsylvania, where Penn State is - those counties went for Democrats, actually, by smaller margins than they did in 2018. You know, that said, I think that we can at least say that younger voters did not fall off and turnout in lower numbers, as Democrats had feared before the election. And they certainly were part of a coalition¹³ that helped Democrats stave off a red wave.

FADEL: What does Democrats holding the Senate mean for the next two years of Biden's agenda?

MONTANARO: I mean, it's hugely important for Biden, you know? Biden can now continue to reshape the federal courts, which would have been completely stopped. You know, and if a Supreme Court vacancy¹⁴ comes up, Biden would still have the power to appoint one. Although, one isn't expected in the next two years. But in light of the Dobbs decision, that's a pretty key presidential power to hold on to. You know, and Biden can likely keep the cap on his veto pen, maintaining the majority will certainly constrain¹⁵ Republicans' ability to pass unified¹⁶ legislation that they would send to Biden.

FADEL: Now, control of the House still up for grabs. Where do things stand there?

MONTANARO: It is. Republicans are on track for a narrow majority at this hour, just six seats away from taking the majority, 19 races uncalled. But that would be a really small majority, looking like only a few seats that Republicans could lose to pass legislation. And we know there's a hard-right faction¹⁷ in the House who's going to want a lot from a potential speaker Kevin McCarthy or whoever winds up being speaker.

FADEL: NPR's Domenico Montanaro. Thank you so much.

MONTANARO: Hey, you're welcome.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

7 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

11 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

12 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

13 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

14 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

15 constrain   

vt.限制，约束；克制，抑制

参考例句：

• She tried to constrain herself from a cough in class.上课时她竭力忍住不咳嗽。
• The study will examine the factors which constrain local economic growth.这项研究将考查抑制当地经济发展的因素。

16 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

17 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。