Ahead of the November midterms in the USA, Senior Political Strategist and Commentator Maria Cardona discussed what American voters are actually looking for when casting their vote.
American politics is about to take centre stage once again as the November midterms get closer and closer.
Talk has been rife as to how the Democrats and Republicans will do in the elections, which see representatives battle it out for seats in the House of Representatives and The US Senate.
The Midterms take place near the midpoint of each president's four-year term, with all 435 seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs, and around 34 Senate seats.
Senior Political Strategist and Commentator Maria Cardona joined host Pat Kenny on The Pat Kenny Show during his live broadcast from The Kennedy Summer School in New Ross, to help explain what voters are looking for in their candidates.
She has plenty of experience in the US political arena, having been a longtime strategist for the Democratic Party, having worked with President Obama and Biden, as well as candidate Hillary Clinton.
She shared: "I would love to make clear to your listeners that what voters in the United States right now are looking for in their candidates, in their leaders, is someone who's going to fight for them.
"They don't care about labels. They don't care whether you call yourself a democratic socialist of America. They don't care whether you call yourself a moderate or a centrist.
"What they care about is what you're going to do for them [and] there are so many families in America right now that are hurting. They wake up in cold sweats at night because they don't know how they're going to make ends meet.
"And a lot of the time, these are people who voted for Donald Trump and Republicans in 2024 because they believed them when they promised that they were going to bring down prices on day one and focus on inflation.
"When you look at the different polling issues, whether it's the war in Iran, whether it's the economy, whether it's immigration, immigration has slipped right down towards the bottom of the chart for most people. It's cost of living."
In the House of Representatives, Democrats need a net gain of three seats to win control of the chamber, and election day is November 3, 2026.
Main image: President Donald Trump in The Roosevelt Room at the White House Picture by: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
