Barack Obama’s Midterm Election Endorsements Nearly Twice As Effective As Donald Trump’s Were
Statistics show that Barack Obama’s backing proved far more successful in swaying voters than President Trump’s did during the 2018 House and Senate midterm election cycle. With several races still up for grabs, he may continue to add to a statistic that reveals him having been almost twice as effective as Trump was at getting candidates elected.
Results gathered by Newsweek place the rate of success for Obama-endorsed candidates at 52.7 percent, with 39 of the 74 candidates he put his name behind winning their contests last Tuesday. By comparison, President Trump was successful at getting his leader of choice into office 28 percent of the time, with only 21 of the 75 candidates he campaigned for claiming victory.
Should Rep. Kyrsten Sinema keep her lead over Rep. Martha McSally in the race for an Arizona Senate seat, and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson continue to rally a comeback against Gov. Rick Scott, Obama will be a perfect five-for-five in Senate race endorsements – as his choices of challenger Jacky Rosen in Nevada and incumbents Tina Smith of Minnesota and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin have him winning three out of three so far.
Meanwhile, according to Ballotpedia, eight races that Obama prioritized in the House of Representatives have still yet been determined, and of course, there are the governor’s races in Georgia and Florida to keep an eye out for, as Obama-backed underdogs Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum hinge their hopes on recounts that have been ordered in their respective states.
Barack Obama's endorsement was far more valuable than Donald Trump's during 2018 midterms https://t.co/bBXMmvG0SN pic.twitter.com/h9d3lyBD7x
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 11, 2018
Three of the candidates that President Trump got behind are still battling in races for the Senate. He would need two of them to win in order for him to prove successful in pushing more than half of his selections for the Senate over the hump, as so far, nine of the 19 completed/undisputed races went his way.
President Trump has been taking a victory lap while claiming that his intense schedule of campaign rallies leading up to the midterm elections helped Republicans solidify their control over the Senate. With 49 red Senate seats, the GOP sustains a healthy margin over the Democrats’ 43 seats and they stand just two short of having a majority. RealClearPolitics shows that Obama can celebrate his decision to focus the majority of his endorsements on candidates running for Congress, as the victories brought home by the Democratic Party were good enough to give them 203 seats compared to the 194 that Republicans currently hold on Capitol Hill.
