'Democracy At Stake' As Polls Boost Republican Hopes In US Midterms

Political leaders from both sides of the aisle yesterday made their closing arguments to voters two days before the hotly contested US midterm elections, with several top Democrats framing the election as a referendum on US democracy.

- Victoria Bekiempis

Republicans , meanwhile, claimed that they would better address Americans’ economic woes and insisted their rivals were ill-equipped to help voters despite Democratic rhetoric that the GOP was to blame for the nation’s political divisions.

Joe Biden was expected to campaign in New York while Donald Trump – who is reported to be planning an attempted presidential comeback after the midterms – was due to hold a rally in Miami.

More than 39 million people have already voted in an election that will decide control of Congress and key governorships.

Polls make the Republicans favourite to win control of the House of Representatives, with the Senate a toss-up. Control of even one chamber would allow Republicans to stymie Biden’s legislative agenda and launch potentially damaging investigations.

Momentum has shifted toward the Republicans, Democratic strategists acknowledge, as voters’ concerns about inflation and crime have outweighed those about abortion after the supreme court ruling in June. Democrats’ early lead in several Senate races, including in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, have shrunk or evaporated.

One of Minnesota’s Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar , warned that a shift right could spell danger for the country, noting that numerous Republican candidates had sow n doubt over the 2020 elections – and said Trump ’s shadow was “looming over” key states.