General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This was the message from voters to the Dems... [View all]mythology
(9,527 posts)Personally I think that it's a combination of a general dissatisfaction with government, an election cycle where more vulnerable Democrats were up for reelection in the Senate, the House being so gerrymandered that it's virtually impossible to retake and most importantly the structural importance of a two party system.
If there were multiple parties, then you could say that if people voted for a further left party that people wanted a more progressive agenda. But when there are only two parties, if you are unhappy with the government, you can really only vote for one other party, in this case, the batshit crazy party.
There's also the historical precedent that the party that holds the presidency almost always loses seats in the second midterms.