“We’re waiting for the pendulum to swing back again, which I am absolutely confident it will.” -Don Bluth
Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. Many Americans voted for officials—usually governors or mayors. In New Jersey, Mikie Sherill and Jack Ciattarelli [CHIT-a-REL-ee] were in a close race for governor. In the end, Mikie Sherill won the election.
Meanwhile, in New York City, a controversial candidate was voted in as mayor. Many New York citizens were discussing Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate running against former governor Andrew Cuomo [KWOH-moh]—a Muslim Democratic socialist.
As of now, he is the mayor-elect of New York City, and will be sworn into office on January 1st, 2026.
One might wonder: what happened between 2025 and 2026 for more Democrats to be voted in? Didn’t the American population elect a Republican last year?
There are many factors, including the laws passed by Trump, Trump’s social media presence, and Donald Trump himself. Indeed, the political appeal of Republican policies are reflected through President Trump’s dwindling approval rating. According to the Economist, Trump’s 2nd term’s approval rate is at a shocking negative 18%, eleven percent less than Joe Biden [1]. What on Earth?
This proverbial “political pendulum” isn’t new. In fact, it refers to the concept of how the 2 political parties—Democrats and the GOP—swing back and forth from the White House and Congress. Usually, when a Democrat is voted for president, a few years later, the Speaker of the House is Republican. This occurred during Biden’s era, through both of Trump’s terms, and it stems beyond that as well.
Another example of this is from the last presidency. While Biden was in office, inflation rose quite a bit, and according to some critics, they were “giving money away.” Subsequently, Republicans took charge of the House of Representatives in 2022, and eventually, in 2024, Trump was elected as president.
Through a worldview like mine, one can see it as nostalgia—which it honestly may be. The definition of the word “nostalgia”, according to Google, is a “sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations”. For some, these ‘personal associations’ may not actually be so happy, but looking at politics through rose-tinted glasses is all too easy.
As mentioned before, the Biden administration’s approval ratings fell through the roof in November of last year, leading to many voting for Trump. This year, however, there have been sweeping Democrats victories, such as Abigail Spanberger, Zohran Mamdani, and Mikie Sherill. Furthermore, Trump’s approval rating is decreasing. His laws are causing discord among the general public, and many Republican politicians (including Marjorie Taylor Green, longtime conservative figurehead) have even been intensely criticizing his own policy. Like his last term, so-called “Republican” voters are also pulling away from him.
In other words, Trump is losing his so-called political power. His enemies seem more like his friends, and his friends do not want to associate with him. His acts anger those who would want to vote for him.
Trump’s reputation is being ripped down, and the pendulum is being pulled to one side—when November 2028 comes around, it is likely that the pendulum will swing to the other.
Sources:
Donald Trump’s approval rating | The Economist [1]