The Democratic divide

Often times I think the media overhypes the alleged divides in the Republican and Democratic camps. While it's true there are some defectors within both parties, at the end of the day, 90% of registered Democrats vote Democrat and 90% of registered Republicans vote Republican. Having said that, though, I think there's potential for those alleged divides to sprout up in the coming midterm elections. While roughly 85-90% of Republicans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president, outside of his strong base, there's a decent percentage of Republicans who don't enthusiastically support him. So will they go to the polls on election day anyway or will they decide to sit home? For Democrats, there will likely be more enthusiasm on their side since they're in the minority in both chambers of Congress, not to mention the Oval Office, but what was the reason for their lower turnout in the 2016 general election? Did they assume Hillary Clinton would win so they stayed home? Did Secretary Clinton not motivate them enough? Due to the controversy surrounding the DNC, did many Bernie Sanders supporters protest the election by sitting out or even voting for Hillary Clinton's main opponent, Donald Trump? These questions are why I find the upcoming midterms to be so interesting. That's not even mentioning the fact registered Republicans tend to vote more regularly in midterm elections than registered Democrats, but if a party has control of all three branches of government, they tend to lose seats in these same elections.

While some of these questions may get answered this November, I have a hunch we won't find out just how significant these divides are until the 2020 presidential election. Democrats may have been divided on who to nominate as their candidate for the 2016 election, but they're united in their hatred of Donald Trump. Expect those Democratic divisions, if they still exist, to be placed to the side this coming November.