Politics

In Midterm elections, voters typically reward their lawmakers — and rebuke the President. Even the most popular often get spanked. Mark Halperin explores how presidents from FDR to Truman to Reagan to Clinton learned their lessons.

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Inside This Archive

The Greatest Plurality Ever Given to Democrats

Nov. 19, 1934

What the 1938 Elections Settled and Unsettled

Nov. 21, 1938

Before the G.O.P. Lay a Forked Road

Nov. 16, 1942

The People's Way: Returning to a Free Economy

Nov. 18, 1946

1950 Election: A Sharp, Pointed Rebuke for Truman

Nov. 13, 1950

Eisenhower's Direction: Down the Middle

Nov. 15, 1954

What the 1958 Elections Mean

Nov. 10, 1958

The Year the Middle of the Road Was Crowded

Nov. 16, 1962

Republican Party: Back from the Brink

Nov. 18, 1966

"Winning Isn't Everything. It Is the Only Thing."

Nov. 16, 1970

Inside This Archive

Now the Morning After for Democrats

Nov. 18, 1974

The Message of the Off-Year Elections

Nov. 20, 1978

Reaganomics: Trimming the Sails

Nov. 15, 1982

The Teflon President's Teflon Coattails

Nov. 17, 1986

"You Can't Beat Somebody with Nobody."

Nov. 19, 1990

Bill Clinton Feels the Voters' Pain

Nov. 21, 1994

The Fall of the House of Newt Gingrich

Nov. 16, 1998

The Battle Hymn Of...The Republicans

Nov. 18, 2002

Reaching for the Center: Realists Take Charge

Nov. 12, 2006

Covers Archive

Time.com Poll

Time.com Polls

What was the most contentious national election in the past century?

Photos

The Voting Machines of America

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