[US midterm elections] European governments tremble... “Life or death due to cost of living issues”

As U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accepted the worst midterm election results, warning lights were turned on in European politics ahead of future elections.

There is an analysis that voters' anger over the rising cost of living could deal a fatal blow to the current administration in Europe as well as the United States.

Politico's European edition pointed out on the 4th (local time) that the results of the U.S. midterm elections are a wake-up call to governments in major European countries, including Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and Poland, who are facing elections.

This is because the recent worsening of public sentiment due to rising prices and the burden of living expenses has led to the theory of ‘judgment of the government.’

In particular, the Democratic Party's victory in Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina, traditional Republican strongholds, is said to have clearly revealed that the decisive variable that moves voters' hearts is not political ideology, but the burden of living expenses.

In Spain, where general elections are scheduled to take place on the 29th, the issue of living expenses has already emerged as a major issue.

Anger over the housing crisis exploded after an 87-year-old man was forcibly evicted from the home he had lived in all his life, and tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid, the capital, last month.

Accordingly, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez threw in the towel by calling for an early general election, but public support is focused on the main opposition party, the conservative People's Party (PP).

There are also predictions that the far-right Vox party, which has criticized Prime Minister Sánchez over the burden of living expenses, will secure enough seats to participate in forming a coalition government for the first time in this general election.

Politico pointed out that Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, ahead of next year's general elections, is also expected to face a difficult battle.

In Italy, protests against rising fuel prices and the cost of living crisis are continuing, but the right-wing government does not have much room to increase spending due to the European Union's fiscal deficit standards and soaring energy costs.

The Christian Democratic Party (CDU), led by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is also under pressure from a series of election defeats.

On the other hand, from the perspective of a ‘challenger’ seeking to gain power, recent voter dissatisfaction can be a golden opportunity.

Marine Le Pen, a member of the far-right National Rally (RN), France's leading presidential candidate, has put forward alleviating the burden of living costs as her main pledge, and in her first election campaign, she presented the supply of affordable housing and lower energy taxes as key agenda items.

However, Politico reported that Rep. Le Pen is virtually ignoring criticism that these pledges are financially unaffordable.

Mathieu Gallard, research director at public opinion polling agency Ipsos, analyzed that voters have recently been focusing on economic issues rather than politics, and that the incumbent administration is bound to be the target of criticism from voters regardless of their political inclinations.

He added, “Even if far-right or radical right-wing leaders (who criticize the current administration) come to power, they will face the same situations and experience the same difficulties as traditional political parties.”