Angirisian News Agencies

[Aerandariel]

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2 NUEVA, 1582

Democrats Rising
Democratic Party rising to be viable third option in Imperial politics as Republicans, Conservatives begin to fall in the eyes of the public

AIUR, Aiuria - If we told you two years ago that the Democratic Party would be leading most national polls for the 1582 Senate campaign, you'd probably check us into the loony bin. But two years later, after two strong national results in 1578 and 1580 that led to double-digit numbers of Senate seats and an increase in Democratic members of the Advisory Council both in deputy positions and in ranking positions, the chance - albeit slim with as many parties that are contending - that the Democrats could end up as the largest party in the Senate or perhaps even figure out a way to bust out a majority (which nobody's been able to do for a decade now).

So how is it that the Democrats are pulling this off? A couple of factors it seems are contributing to the strengthening of the Democratic Party as well as others. First, many voters are getting tired of the Republican and Conservative parties dominating the Imperial political landscape. The favorability ratings of both parties are getting low - 32% for the Republicans, 28% for the Conservatives - and there has been a very large group of voters (64%) who want either another party to challenge the top two parties or simply want a change in the guard. Second, Democratic leaders have targeted more centrist-minded voters in an effort to bridge party gaps. Many of these voters are disenchanted Republicans and Conservatives and voters that cannot bring themselves to vote for any of the more ideologically-fringe parties like the Federalists and Orthodox Conservatives. These, combined with an expanded percentage of the electorate who identify themselves as politically Independent, and you have what sound like a natural constituency for the Democratic Party to seize the moment and get a share of power.

It is very unlikely that based on the current outlook of the balance of power in the Senate that any party - the Democrats included - will attain the 40-seat majority needed to control the Senate. So the race will come down to which party could win the most seats. The Republicans have made it five straight elections with the most seats, and the Conservatives are usually hovering in second. In both 1578 and 1580, the Republicans and Conservatives held more than half of the Senate seats, with the Democrats and Orthodox Conservatives usually in third and fourth. This time around though, the deep unpopularity of the Republicans and Conservatives are leading to a strong possibility that the Democrats and possibly the Orthodox Conservatives could end up as the strongest two parties. Democrats are hovering around 23% to 25% in many polls in first place. Orthodox Conservatives lag behind, but are tied for third with the Conservatives in the low teens. There is still time for things to change, but by the end of election night in Tolven, we might be saying "Democrats are the largest Senate party". After that, then what?