Democrats hope to ride the waves of a productive and eventful summer to an upset victory in the midterm elections solely on the issues of abortion and what they perceive as ‘threats to democracy.’ It is true that the Republican Party has worked tirelessly to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by nominating a series of less than desirable candidates.

A plethora of election deniers, who seek to vehemently relitigate the 2020 election, have been given the nomination in several of the battleground states thanks to the influence of former President Trump’s endorsement. And the Supreme Court suffered a politically motivated leak of their verdict in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, overturning Roe v. Wade just in time for the summer fundraising cycle!

As Progressives took to the streets, incensed by the court’s decision, the media’s inquisitive gaze immediately turned to the anti-abortion rhetoric of many GOP candidates, and droves of fundraising emails from the Democratic National Committee cluttered inboxes.

Yet, the idea that this issue has single handedly swung the pendulum toward the Democrats is quite fallacious. Facts often have a nasty habit of contradicting media predictions, and the facts do not bode well for the Democratic party at all. Because no matter how hard their candidates may try to duck him at events, proclaim support for a new nominee in 2024, and scrub him from their ads — they cannot escape President Biden. The President’s tenure has been marked with a record-low level of unpopularity for any president, and his strategy for “saving” the midterms has done likely as much harm as good.

Despite being stuck in gridlock, due to the absurdity of his spending ambitions, President Biden finally got gears to turn with the signing of his Inflation Reduction Act, which really was more akin to a low-calorie version of the Green New Deal. In truth, when inflation and the state of the economy top the list of voter priorities, trillions in extraordinary spending enabled by fiat currency is perhaps not the wisest way to go. There is also the issue of crime, which single handedly appears to have tightened the crucial senate races in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Crime has recently been the soft underbelly of the Democrats, and the numbers spell at best a grim outlook for November. Philadelphia, ironically nicknamed the “city of brotherly love,” has hit a record level of 1,000 carjackings in a year with three months to go, more than 1,400 people have been shot, and the neighborhood of Kensington has become the drug capital of the East Coast. Philadelphia’s Democrat Mayor Jim Kenney has said, when asked about the increase in violence, that he is unable to do anything and claimed “I’ll be happy when I’m not mayor.” Quiet quitting may be a current TikTok trend for the workforce, yet we shouldn’t allow our elected officials to do it on our dime.

Mandela Barnes and John Fetterman are the Democratic nominees for the Senate in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania respectively. Mr. Barnes has frequently been an advocate of cutting the prison population of Wisconsin in half, where 68% of inmates are incarcerated for violent crime, and Mr. Fetterman has specifically claimed that life sentences for second degree murder are a tragedy.

Sensing a sizable opportunity, many PACs (close to Mitch McConnell) have begun to flood the airwaves with a bombardment of attack ads against them. Consequently, incumbent Ron Johnson has regained the lead in Wisconsin and Mr. Fetterman finds Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania, catching up with haste.

Crime, the crumbling economy, and continuous inflation have dominated the election cycle. The inconvenient truth for Democrats was that, yes, the abortion issue was a lifeline, but a fleeting one at best. Truthfully, abortion is less of a divisive issue to a silent majority of Americans — the middle who do not comprise either parties ‘base.’

The Democratic base will champion that abortion, even late term abortion, is a non-negotiable woman’s decision that should be untouched by the government, and the similarly adamant Republican base will proclaim that any abortion, even after rape, should be viewed the same way as murder. Both groups have already been voting for one party for the last two decades, they were never ‘swing voters’ and were never going to be swayed by a court decision. In actuality, the silent majority believe that it should generally be legal but should be restricted after the first trimester.

The Democrats were overly optimistic to believe they have a serious hope of holding their trifecta. Once November arrives it is likely that the Republicans will make gains in both chambers of Congress. Afterwards, the Democrats will likely lick their wounds and lament on how they failed to capitalize on the Supreme Court’s gift, and complain about Republicans “fear-mongering” on crime. Yet, learning from the will of the voters is an equally uncomfortable idea to both of these political parties, whose politicians drift more and more out of touch with each passing day.