Why did 1994 go worse for democrats then 1980(In congress)

[Sumner 1868]

There were a lot of freshman Democrats in 1992 who had never been established, and thus very vulnerable. Turnout in 1980 was 52% while only 37% bothered to vote in 1994. There was also the unpopularity of several Democratic governors who badly handled the recession spreading down-ticket.

[Sumner 1868]

The Democrats were definitely NOT pro-gay in the 90's at all, Clinton signed DADT and hardly any democrat spoke in support of gays.   Really it wasn't until around 2006 or 2008 that Democrats really started being supportive of gays.   '

I never said they were pro-gay.

The problem was that society hated gays, and Democrats were "meh". Republicans used the issue of gay rights as a political weapon against Democrats, and it paid off in the 1990s.

Not quite. Polling in the early 1990s show that, except for the "marriage" question, the majority of Americans outside the South already come to agree with the gay rights movement (even Idaho rejected a anti-homosexuality ballot measure in 1994!). Because Clinton entertained a fantasy that the Democrats could revive in the South, he swung like a roller coaster on the issue his entire presidency.