This essay was published by firstpost.com at https://stg.firstpost.com/opinion-news-expert-views-news-analysis-firstpost-viewpoint/shadow-warrior-the-us-midterm-elections-and-implications-especially-for-india-11146761.html This is being written on the eve of the US midterm elections, and so far as can be gathered from voluminous punditry, it appears the Democrats are going to take a direct hit. Normally the ruling party loses seats in the midterms, but this time the loss could actually turn into a rout, especially because of inflation and high interest rates. If the opinion polls are correct, and there is no hanky-panky at the voting-booth, chances are that the Republicans will gain control over one or both of the upper and the lower house: the Senate and the House of Representatives. This means that Joe Biden will be a lame duck, and his far-left, ‘woke’ agenda will be stymied by continuous obstruction by the Republicans. US election issues Democrats are on the defensive on many issues that are top of mind for the US voter:  * Inflation and the economy * Abortion and women’s rights * Immigration and border control * Climate change * Law and order * The war in Ukraine * The Trump factor and the 2020 election Undoubtedly there are other, local issues that concern voters, but on the national level this is what they will bring to the voting booth on November 8th. In general, there is a backlash to the extreme-left politics espoused by the ‘progressives’ who appear to have hijacked the Democratic Party. Inflation is hurting people directly (at about 8%, a 40-year high, and very visible in the price of staples like food and petrol). Naturally, those in charge in times of trouble take the blame, whether it is deserved or not. As the Fed tightens, there will be job losses; there already are, in Big Tech, eg Twitter and Meta, including for other reasons. Small businesses are hurting, too.  The abortion issue looked like a major galvanizing force a few weeks ago when the US Supreme Court overturned the legendary Roe v. Wade decision, but it has faded in importance except for the activist leftist faction within the Democratic party (the so-called ‘progressives’). Relatively uncontrolled immigration through the porous southern border is an emotive issue in border states such as Texas.  With riots in several cities, ‘defund the police’, and general mayhem such as repeated school shootings, rampant gun violence, breakdowns in law and order may be an emotive issue.  Climate change is less of a concern than it had been earlier, because it is increasingly clear that there will be pain to the general public in making a move to renewable energy.  The Ukraine war, although it has some bipartisan support, is dragging on, and is correctly seen as a factor in increasing oil and gas prices, as well as food prices.  Former President Trump is still a factor in the Republican party, and quite a few members of that party are convinced that the 2020 elections were flawed at best, and stolen at worst.  Finally, one of the imponderables is the ‘swing vote’: groups that may be persuaded based on specific issues.  Swing voters It appears that there are only two genuinely committed votebanks: one is the mostly white, young-ish, college-educated ‘liberal’ Democratic cohort, that comprise the ‘progressives’ of both the East Coast and California. The other is the rural, again mostly white, older, non-college-graduate ‘conservative’ cohort, which has been dependably Republican for long. Black voters have been Democrat-leaning for years, and that will continue to be the case. Other groups, for example Latinos (Spanish speakers, or their descendants, often immigrants from Mexico, Central America, Cuba and so on), may well change their allegiance. Latinos were dedicated Democratic voters, but they have shown signs of defecting in droves because of the overly-socialist noises coming from the Democrats. Latinos who escaped