ABC News national correspondent Terry Moran said Sunday that the Democrats’ election prospects are not looking good less than a month before the midterms.
He added that close polling should be no comfort to Democrats given how Republicans have been under-surveyed in recent election cycles.
ABC News “This Week” host Martha Raddatz noted Democrats had been fairly hopeful in the summer as polling swung in their direction. “Do you still get that sense?” she asked Moran.
“Nope. I think the air went out of that balloon in part because the economy is so tough for so many people,” he answered.
“Food prices, rent spiking. If they’ve got retirement funds, those are evaporating, and even the issue of abortion, which did drive several special elections and that remarkable referendum result in Kansas,” Moran continued.
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“While there are millions of people for whom [abortion] will be the No. 1 issue, I just think the economic headwinds are so tough, and [President Joe] Biden — he just doesn’t have the oomph as a candidate anymore,” he said.
A little over a month after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Kansans voted against an amendment that would have overturned a state Supreme Court ruling that found that there is a constitutional right to obtain an abortion.
“Polls are broken… So you look at those polls, if it’s close it’s a Republican win.”
ABC’s Terry Moran poured cold water over the rest of the leftist pundits’ hopes about Democrats’ chances in the midterms. pic.twitter.com/bY8Il4auZg
— MRCTV (@mrctv) October 10, 2022
A Monmouth University poll released this month found the top issue for respondents was inflation, with 82 percent saying it’s extremely or very important to them. The next was crime (72 percent), elections and voting (70 percent), jobs and unemployment (68 percent), and immigration (67 percent).
Will the GOP take control of Congress in the midterms?
Abortion, which many Democrat candidates have emphasized in their campaigns, registered as an extremely or very important issue with 56 percent of those surveyed.
Moran argued that Republicans are participating less in polls.
“I would also say in this country and in other countries, polls are broken,” he said.
“It is clear that lots of people on the right just don’t answer anymore. They were worse in 2020 than they were in 2016. … If it’s close, it’s a Republican win.”
The Real Clear Politics average of polls for the generic congressional ballot shows the GOP with a slight lead at 0.9 percent.
In 2020, the Democrats were up 6.8 percent. They ended up losing 12 seats in the House, though on the Senate side they did gain three seats, flipping one in Arizona, one in Colorado and two in Georgia, while losing one in Alabama.
In 2016, Democrats were up in the RCP congressional ballot by 0.6 percent and gained six seats in the House and two seats in the Senate. However, Republican Donald Trump won the White House despite being down 3.2 percent in the RCP average to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
A version of this article originally appeared on Patriot Project.
