The Rise and Fall of the Parties

Jay Cost, The Weekly Standard

quote:

Voters tend to toss incumbent parties out of the White House when the economy sours, and prior to that point they tend to favor the opposition for the rest of the electoral offices. These forces combined to rout the GOP in 2008. It is now the Democrats’ turn to worry about their inevitable fall from grace. Maybe they can delay it past 2016, but it is coming.

The analysis seems to indicate that voters are a pretty skeptical lot over time.  They may appear to be stupid, but the long term trends indicate otherwise.  Eventually, the bums that need to be thrown out are thrown out.

Too optimistic?  Maybe.  The analysis isn't my preference.  It's like we have no control over it at all.  It cycles whichever way it's going to cycle.