Republicans are increasingly optimistic that the party will regain control of Congress in the 2022 midterms, The Hill reported.
The GOP needs a net gain of five seats in the House to become the majority in that chamber, and a Senate currently divided evenly appears up for grabs.
"I'm very confident that we're gonna take back the House," Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told The Hill.
"I think that on the key issues right now, all the energy is on our side. And when I look at all the polling data, it matches what I see in the district — voters are concerned about inflation, crime, the border, Afghanistan, and all those issues are in our favor."
Republicans also note that President Joe Biden's Build Back Better roughly $2 trillion social spending and climate legislation has stalled.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said many of his Democrat colleagues face two choices.
"I've been telling Democrats, especially Democrats in targeted seats, enjoy the holidays, and you got a decision to make: retire or lose next fall," Emmer told The Hill.
In fact, roughly two dozen House Democrats will be retiring either to leave politics or to run for another office.
While the party in the White House often loses seats in the midterms, Republicans also have been emboldened by recent polling.
A recent CNBC survey found that the GOP holds a 10-point lead over the Democratic Party in the latest generic congressional poll.
During the last two decades, no previous polls from CNBC or NBC have shown Republicans with a double-digit advantage over their rivals in a generic congressional ballot, with the previous record being a 4-point advantage.
Another recent survey, by Morning Consult and Politico, found that Democrats failed to meet the expectations they set during the 2020 elections, according to little more than 40% of respondents.
Biden's free-falling poll numbers also could help power a red wave. A recent Marist poll showed that just 41% of Americans hold a positive view of Biden's performance as president, compared to 56% with a negative opinion.
Another factor that could help the GOP in the House is redistricting. Republicans already appear to have strengthened their advantages in states such as Texas and Georgia, The Hill said.
"Redistricting is going to be an obstacle," Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said, The Hill reported.
In the Senate, a more competitive map could assist Democrats, who will be defending seats in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Republicans, meanwhile, will be defending open seats in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — states Biden won in 2020 — as well as North Carolina and Ohio.
Many Democrats also understand that the current landscape does not help them.
"The environment is particularly dour, both because of rising prices, economic anxiety, frustration about feeling stagnant when it comes to COVID, that it is not behind us despite the fact that we've been living with it for two years," Democratic pollster Molly Murphy said, The Hill reported.
"If this environment holds, it's going to be pretty damning."
Still Republicans gaining control of the House and/or Senate is not guaranteed. Not only can a lot happen in the next 10 months, Republicans have been known to hurt themselves by fighting within the party.
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