Democrats face strong headwinds in the 2014 mid-term elections and could suffer a similar fate as their crushing defeat in 2010 if their voters don’t turn out, according to a longtime confidant of President Barack Obama.
David Plouffe invoked the Democrats’ loss in a special election in a conservative Florida district as a “screaming siren” for the party.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a harbinger. We have a turnout issue. And I think that this is a screaming siren that the same problems that afflicted us in ’10 — and traditionally we’ve had tougher off years than presidential years — that could face us again,” Plouffe told Bloomberg TV’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” in an interview set to air Friday night.
Plouffe ran Obama’s 2008 campaign and served as a senior White House adviser before stepping down shortly after the president won re-election.
“I think for, particularly red states, and we’ve got a bunch of red states though like in Louisiana, in Arkansas, we have significant minority population. We’re going to have to work over time on turnout,” he said. “It’s not just about data and technology. The candidates themselves are going to have to do a good job.”
He added that he doesn’t believe Obamacare is a problem for Democrats.
Republicans have a considerable advantage in the November congressional elections, in large part because their base tends to turn out in higher numbers during mid-terms.
