History and a handful of issues threaten the Democrats’ narrow congressional majorities in next year’s midterm elections.

Even though President Joe Biden’s job approval ratings remain solid if unspectacular, standing at 52.6% in the RealClearPolitics polling average and 51.3% in FiveThirtyEight’s, the first midterm election has tended to go against the president’s party since the 1930s. But Democrats are facing major headwinds beyond past precedent as they seek to hold on to their 50-50 split in the Senate — only Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote gives them control — and nine-vote margin over Republicans in the House.

Democrats lost seats in the House last year as Biden rolled up 51.4% of the national popular vote and took the Senate only by sweeping both Georgia runoff elections in January. Since taking unified control of the elected branches of the federal government, several problems have emerged that could make 2022 even more difficult — including some familiar ones that set back Democrats for a generation after the 1970s.

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