Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns’ article “For Both Parties, a Political Realignment Among Cultural Lines” describes the results of the midterm elections on both the Democratic and Republican sides. This is relevant to Althen’s American Ways because in the chapter of the book on politics, Althen describes how Americans are divided on certain issues, and are thus labeled “liberal”, “conservative”, “republican” and “democrat”. The article describes how the republicans lost their house majority, and the democrats struggled to win the senate. The republicans lost some of their political allies during this election.The Democrats lost voters in the cities that Trump visited in the final days before the election, as well as losing Florida to republicans.
This article is significant because it shows the tensions that come with elections. It also shows that some outcomes in elections are unexpected. Trends in voting usually stay consistent, but in this case voting patterns changed a bit, making this election a noteworthy one.
Martin, Jonathan and Burns, Alexander. “For Both Parties, a Political Realignment Among Cultural Lines.” The New York Times, 7 Nov. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/us/politics/elections-divided-nation.html