Elections in the United States in 2010
The 2010 election in the United States took place on November 2nd. It was mid-term elections ( English midterm elections ) during the first term of US President Barack Obama . They were exactly between the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections .
The following were elected:
- all 435 seats in the House of Representatives , see here
- 37 of the 100 seats in the Senate , see here
- New governors have been appointed in 39 states and territories , see here
- many state-level parliaments
- as well as some local legislatures.
In other countries there were individual votes on specific issues:
- In California there was a vote on the legalization of marijuana ( California Proposition 19 ).
- In Oklahoma, citizens should decide whether or not the state courts can base their judgments on international or Islamic law ( State Question 755 ).
The election campaign
The dominant theme in the election campaign was the economic situation in the United States, especially the situation on the labor market (see US labor market statistics ) and the high national debt. The financial crisis from 2007 (which also spread to the real economy in 2009) had negative consequences. The general public was disappointed with the course of the Obama administration , even though the crisis began during the administration of George W. Bush . In the course of this mood, the right-wing populist tea party movement made its mark .
Effects
The outcome of the 2010 election depended on how much political leeway President Obama would have in the second half of his first term. With the loss of a majority in the House of Representatives while the Senate was kept tight, Obama could no longer pass laws without the opposition Republicans. In the following years, the Republicans blocked all plans of the US president that appeared to them to be left-wing liberal . American political science called the 2010 midterm elections a wave election .