Based on my conversations with others, while the Iran war activity carries weight in people’s voting decision, by and large, apathy towards the republicans in congress (and especially the Senate) is a bigger driver. They didn’t pass the SAVE act but they also failed to codify almost all of Trump’s executive action to secure our borders and stop the invasion. This falls directly on Thune, who apparently wanted the Republicans to lose in this midterm.
It isn’t Trump’s fault here, though the leftwing media will certainly place blame there. It is the RINOs that refuse to do what’s best for the American people. The “big beautiful bill” was a big nothing. Nothing in there that directly affected me.
I won’t discount fraud as we know that there was plenty of that, but apathy among the conservative public certainly made the fraud easier. People stayed home because they didn’t see any advantage to voting R.
When RINOs “reach across the aisle” to embrace the enemy, they become the enemy.
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I know you’re right. My bridge partner in Buffalo became much more engaged politically a few years ago and now works with the Republican Committee in his town. He canvassed hard to get out the R vote and got the same feedback from the potential voters that you’ve just given.