40853 - Midterm elections 2018

N. Lygeros

Midterm elections take place in the middle of the Republican President Donald Trump’s first term. The contested seats were 435 in the United States House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 in the United State Senate. At the Senate Republicans have retained their control and keep their majority. So we have a new equilibrium in the sense of Nash Game Theory. In this context we have divided structures able to create conflicts for each decision or to find compromises. For the President the game is more complex now. By the way, we have also the gubernatorial elections for 39 govenorships in 36 states and 3 territories, so we are in a real struggle in these midterm elections. In any case, we can see that the big picture is more or less the same at the highest level. We don’t see any big success but many small victories. The opposition between the Senate and the House will be an important factor for the future of the trajectory of the United States. Of course we have to see the first impacts of these midterm elections in the american issues but also in the international. But we can see some new difficulties at the domestic level so the problem for the presidency will be to manage them in a quite different way. That’s why we have to wait a little bit more to realize if we have a real new phase at the political level.