Democrats are paying visits to their therapists, complaining of “post traumatic stress disorder,” “nightmares,” and “anxiety” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, according to a report from Politico.
“Haunted by memories of 2016, liberals around the country are riven with anxiety in the campaign’s homestretch,” the Washington, D.C.-based outlet claims, adding that leftists are grappling with the possibility that most polls — like in 2016 — are wrong, and that rumors of a “blue wave” are far overstated.
“Some report literal nightmares about a Democratic wipe-out,” Politico adds.
“We’re kind of just in the bed-wetting phase now,” a Democratic pollster, who worked alongside the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016, said in an interview with Politico. Another, a former Pelosi staffer, said she suffers from nightmares every night, after falling asleep reading the latest polls.
Others are “eating their feelings,” according to a YouGov poll released just last week, and still others are complaining of symptoms of “post traumatic stress disorder” or PTSD. Last month, a study published in the Journal of American College Health showed that approximately one in four college students are suffering symptoms of PTSD not unlike those who have experienced school shootings — though all they’ve experienced is a disagreeable election result.
Politico also reports that Democrats are taking measures not to repeat the public disappointment they suffered in 2016, limiting who is invited to house parties where cameras are allowed, and, in the case of college leftist organizations, calling off “watch parties” altogether in favor of healthier pastimes, or moving them to less triggering surroundings.
“At Vassar College in upstate New York, the college Democrats are moving their results-watching party to a new venue over concerns that revisiting the scene of their 2016 letdown would be too upsetting for some students, according to a member of the group,” Politico reports. “At Brown University in Rhode Island, the College Democrats have taken the same precaution after experiencing a ‘collective flashback’ to Trump’s victory during a discussion of election night planning.”
It may sound like overkill, but the most recent polls show a much closer election than expected. It would be rare for the party out of power — the party that does not hold the White House — not to make significant gains in the first midterms following an open presidential election, but Democrats aren’t guaranteed success in either House of Congress.
The Senate is only 15% likely to flip, and Republicans, energized by the recent Supreme Court nomination hearings, are expected to turn out in bigger numbers in states President Donald Trump turned red in 2016. That means bad news for “purple state” Democrats, like Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, and good news for Republicans who may actually add to their Senate majority.
The House is less secure. Pollster Nate Silver gives Democrats a nearly 85% chance of flipping the House, but that result will hinge on 30 key races, all of which need to go Democrats’ way in order to achieve the desired result. Just two months ago, all 30 races seemed winnable, but that was when only Democrat voters were energized.
The outcome of Tuesday’s contest is so uncertain that prominent leftists like filmmaker Michael Moore are already managing expectations, telling fellow liberals to expect the best but prepare for the worst.
