Veteran journalist and author Bob Woodward on Tuesday declared there would not be “a great deal of hope if Republicans do well or hold their own” in the midterm elections, wondering if GOP voters are in favor of “chaos and nervous breakdowns in the White House.”
Woodward made the comments in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” as voters across the nation flock to the polls. Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats to win back the House and two seats if they hope to win back the Senate.
Since 1918, the party in power has lost an average of 29 seats during midterm elections.
{mosads}“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski asked the longtime journalist his thoughts on Election Day.
“Bob Woodward, what are you looking at today? What are you hoping for?” Brzezinski asked.
Woodward, who recently completed a media tour for his new bestselling book, “Fear: Inside the Trump White House,” replied that he did not know why voters vote Republican.
Woodward portrays the administration under President Trump as one in disarray, and the author wonders if some voters are voting for “chaos.”
“There’s not a great deal of hope,” Woodward said. “If Republicans do well or hold their own, what are they voting for? Are they voting for the chaos and nervous breakdown in the White House or are they voting for local candidates? And it can be some of both.”
“If you listen to enough of this, it’s evident, you’re hedging on this,” Woodward added. “You think it’s going a certain way, but leave the door wide-open for going the other way. And I think that’s the right approach, because no one knows what Trump’s emotional impact he’s having on people. Lots of people don’t like it. There are a lot of people who do like it.”
Democrats have a good chance at taking the House but have a much more narrow path to taking back the upper chamber, where they are defending 10 seats in states that Trump won in 2016.