White House blames voter dismay with Washington ahead of polls

WASHINGTON — With many races still tight but mid-term polls showing a general trend in favour of Republicans, the White House is blaming voter dissatisfaction with Washington for what could be an Election Day rout for United States President Barack Obama’s Democrats.

Both parties pushed to get voters to the polls in a final effort to sway the electorate ahead of the election, which could shift control of the US Senate and upend policy priorities for the last two years of Mr Obama’s final term.

Gaining control of the Senate would give Republicans complete control of both chambers of Congress and constitute the most dramatic political shift since Mr Obama entered the White House in early 2009. It would also complicate his last two years in office, perhaps forcing him to make more concessions to his Republican opponents than he would prefer.

The White House tried to play down the prospect of sharp changes in strategy by the President after the election. White House spokesman Josh Earnest noted that many of the contested Senate races where Democrats were in trouble were in states Mr Obama lost to Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 election.

“It would not be wise to draw as broad a conclusion about the outcome of this election as you would about a national presidential election simply by virtue of the map,” he told reporters.

Mr Obama’s low public approval rating of around 40 per cent made him a political liability in some states on the campaign trail, where his last campaign appearance was on Sunday in Philadelphia. The President, who spent the weekend campaigning in Michigan, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, stayed in Washington the day before the elections.

Mr Obama will face pressure to make changes at the White House if his party loses across the board. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 75 per cent of respondents believed the administration needs to “rethink” how it approaches major issues facing the United States. Sixty-four per cent said Mr Obama should replace some of his senior staff after the election.

Mr Earnest played down the prospect of major firings. “At this point, I don’t anticipate that will happen,” he told a briefing. He said a key factor driving the election was “frustration with the failure of Washington, DC, to put in place policies that are helpful to middle-class families”.

Voters are choosing 36 senators, all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 36 state governors. Control of the Senate may not be clear for some weeks though, depending on the outcomes of races in Georgia and Louisiana that could spur runoffs.

Democrats had hoped a superior get-out-the-vote effort, which helped Mr Obama win the White House in 2012, would offset apathy among their core constituency groups, which have a history of sitting out non-presidential elections.

But the Republican Party has stepped up its “ground game”. Republican National Committee spokesman Kirsten Kukowski said volunteers would keep knocking on doors until polls closed.

Republicans must pick up six Senate seats and retain those they have to reclaim the majority from Democrats and control both chambers of Congress.

Polls show several races are toss-ups. One is in New Hampshire, where Republican Scott Brown is challenging incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Races in Colorado, North Carolina, Kansas, Iowa and Alaska are also tight. AGENCIES