Health care is a big issue. Thanks to McCain the GOP fumbled repeal. In addition the GOP never came up with an alternative or replacement for Obamacare. Due to the inept handling of repeal the public sees all of the negatives of the health care mess the Affordable Care Act created as now being owned by the GOP Congress.
GOP leadership ignored the issue after McCain’s treachery but the public didn’t Polls show it was one of the top concerns on voters minds. Pelosi and the Dems played on voter anger over healthcare in this election while Republicans focused on immigration and the economy. For a struggling middle class family, the economy is only as good as your own financial situation. If rising costs of healthcare (insurance premiums, copays, deductibles and pharmaceutical costs) are offsetting your tax savings from the tax cuts, the GOP Congress doesn’t look very good.
It isn’t just healthcare costs that are rising. Anyone who shops for groceries knows the real rate of inflation is higher than the government inflation statistics and 2% pay increases. Food manufacturers are again reducing content in containers in as a way of hiding price increases. Energy prices are rising again. Housing prices are extremely high and unaffordable. Property taxes and insurance costs are also escalating well beyond the 2% inflation rate. To young people saddled with massive student loan debt, a Democrat talk about student loan forgiveness is very attractive. The situation on the border is of little concern to someone in the suburbs 1000 miles away loaded with debt and struggling with rapidly escalating costs of the basic necessities of life.
The hard reality is 50% of the nation pays no taxes. Fifty percent of the population receives a government check or subsidy. People who receive welfare, Obamacare premium subsidies, social security, Veterans benefits, government pensions, tax credits, or other government benefits are not going to give up their claim on the treasury and are going to support politicians who promise more.
The GOP had 40 retirements in the House so no incumbent was running in those races. Voters picked the candidates in those races who promoted policies that would benefit them. What exactly was the GOP message in the congressional races on healthcare, inflation, high cost of college education?
When you have no message and the other guy is offering answers, who gets the vote? Congressional races are local, not national. The Dems did a good job of talking to people about the issues impacting their daily lives and pocketbooks, Republicans didn’t. Pocketbook issues win.
Go back and remember Donald Trump's campaign theme for health care in 2016: "You'll get better health care, and it will cost less!"
That's about as empty a campaign promise as I've ever heard in my life, but it was effective because people were dumb enough to believe him. That's like me running for public office with a promise that people will be able to live in Trump Tower for $500/month.
thank you for a very well thought out and concise evaluation.