美国国家公共电台 NPR--How did midterm elections turnout for Democrats?

How did midterm elections turnout for Democrats¹?

Transcript²

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Democratic pollster Aileen Cardona-Arroy about how the midterm election results are taking shape for the Democratic party.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Joining us now is Aileen Cardona-Arroyo. She is vice³ president of the public opinion research firm Hart Research Associates. And we're going to talk about all kinds of things. Aileen, thank you for being here.

AILEEN CARDONA-ARROYO: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: So the party out of power historically does very well in midterm elections, and Republicans had predicted overwhelming wins. That did not happen. Why?

CARDONA-ARROYO: I mean, there are many votes left to be counted, but what we're seeing right now is really nothing short of historic when you consider that, you know, Trump⁴ lost 40 House seats in 2018; Obama lost 63 in 2010; Clinton lost over 50 seats in '94. This is - you know, Republicans should be easily winning this election. And while we are still waiting for the results to come in, the fact that they're not really is an indictment⁵ of what voters think of their alternative vision for the country.

MARTIN: You and I had talked in October about how the issue of abortion⁶ was playing out in these midterms. What have you seen in terms of exit polling about how strongly people took the issue of abortion into their decision-making?

CARDONA-ARROYO: Yeah, you know, the Democrats really banked on reproductive rights and abortion being a strong mobilizer. And, again, we'll need more data to really see how that played out, but at least it seemed to have mobilized the base in the way the Democrats wanted.

I think the bigger story is, you know, what didn't work for Republicans? The Republican Party led the final stretch of their campaign with strong MAGA energy, fearmongering on crime and education. And it looks, as of now - again, with votes still being counted - that many voters rejected that, despite what many saw as a challenging environment for Democrats, with Biden having low presidential approval, widespread economic concerns. And we're not - we're just not seeing that red wave that Republicans anticipated and that, frankly⁷, many anticipated, given historical trends.

MARTIN: Although we should just underscore the fact that control of Congress is still, at this moment, undecided. Republicans are still in a good position to take control of the House. They could still pull out control of the Senate.

CARDONA-ARROYO: Oh, absolutely. But, you know, even if they do, they're going to do so from a place of weakness, based - you know, compared to where they, you know, should be, based on historical trends. So even if they do with it what they very well could at this point, as you point out, it's not what was anticipated.

MARTIN: Let me ask you about this. Democrats had this controversial strategy during the primaries. A lot of Democratic groups put money into some races where they thought they could help fringe candidates - in some case, election deniers - help them win because Democrats thought that they would then have a better chance of their candidate winning in a general election against those so-called fringe candidates. I mean, did that prove to be a wise strategy?

CARDONA-ARROYO: I mean, I do think so. I think Republicans will need to reassess their strategy and which candidates they're pushing forward. You know, Trump is Trump, and he'll remain part of the political environment, but many of these candidates that followed the Trump kind of recipe did not fare well or are not faring well, at least as the numbers are coming in so far. And so, you know, there's a reassessment that needs to happen with Republicans on that.

MARTIN: Aileen Cardona-Arroyo - she is with the public opinion research firm Hart Research Associates. Thank you so much.

CARDONA-ARROYO: Thank you.

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 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

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 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。