Why did the Democrats lose so badly in 2010?

[Virginiá]

Is there even a way to truly know the main reasons behind that epic loss? I see a lot of decent suggestions here but it's all over the place. Perhaps a combination of them?

I think Obama/Democrats had/have a severe messaging problem. Democrats actually cut taxes for most people in 2009-2011 and I think some minor cuts after... but did people even realize this? The bank bailout - why were Democrats blamed for this? Nearly half the country in 2010 thought TARP was passed under Obama. This ignorance is a major failure on the part of Democrats. ObamaCare during a recession? Honestly that was the wrong time to introduce such a social program. He shouldn't have spent so much political capital on healthcare reform during a recession/recovery. It's really sad that Obama helped ruin our prior success for such a weak bill.

http://www.pewresearch.org/daily-number/was-tarp-passed-under-bush-or-obama/

I really like Yankee/muon2's take as well. I also believe that Obama accelerated (and later finalized) the Southern realignment as well - something that was always going to happen, but just happened faster for various reasons, with, imo, race included.

My lazy opinion: Perfect storm of numerous issues/mistakes by Democrats/Obama + state of economy

[Virginiá]

Well Obama did continue TARP early in his Presidency. Basically voters were pissed at both Obama and Bush W. for bailing out the banks. TARP is a tough vote for a member of Congress though.

To go off topic a bit -

I really think it's unfair that either party was blamed for the bailouts. I'm sure some more favorable changes could have been made (none of which would have mattered as long as it was even remotely seen as a bailout), but it was needed. People don't like the idea of bailing out companies who caused the problem in the first place and if they had the final say, we'd be a hell of a lot more trouble even now just because the people wanted to be vindictive. I do things all the time I don't like but at the same time, know that I have to for the greater good.

This is why we need a more engaged & educated populace. This stuff shouldn't even need to be explained to everyone, as people should do their own research before forming such strong opinions. It's the huge absence of this kind of logical behavior that frequently makes me wonder how the hell we ever got to this stage of technological evolution to begin with.