Further on this, let us not forget that the democrats had been in control of the House for 20+ years in 1982. And if memory serves me right, only 1 time prior had the party in the white house gained house seats during a midterm.
And with yesterday, the democrats would have had to win 58 seats in the house I believe (i know its over 50) to just reach the avg. number of seats gain in 2 off year elections during a two term presidency.
The Dems had been in control houses of Congress since 1954.
Yesterday was tiny compared to most mid-term elections and was even modest by "6th year in a presidency" standard.
Reagan had a much more contentious situation and a much more difficult economic situation (thanks to Jimmy) to overcome. Reagan was lucky to have Volker in the FED and Reagan was courageous to support Volker with all of his rate hikes required to end the cycle of inflation -- but that's what real leaders do. Unfortunately, we may never have another Ronald Reagan again, or at least in my life time.