Why did the Democrats lose so badly in 2010?

[hopper]

The GOP has had the House 16/20 years and the Dems which will include 2016 have held onto WH for 16/20 years and the Senate has been at parity 10/10 years.  2010 was bound to happen anyways.  But, when the Dems get back the SCRT this year, a legislative mandate from the House won't be necessary because Congressional Acts like Gun Control and Gerrymandering will be legislated once Garland is seated.

Gerrymandering was around long before the Republicans did it in 2011. I'm not saying Gerrymandering is right but Dems do their share of gerrymandering as well. Actually Republican Voters(per PPP) are for Gun Control Republican Lawmakers are just scared of the Conservative Media ripping them to shreds over the issue and Donors(The NRA) taking their money away.

[hopper]

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

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.

[hopper]

A very large part of why Dems lost so badly was that Obama allowed his people to take over the DNC and tear down the 50 state strategy that had served the party so well from 2005-2008.  With this infrastructure gone, most Democrats elected with its help had no support to help them withstand Republican attacks and onslaughts.  

Had the infrastructure that Howard Dean had set up in 2005 and 2006 remained in place, Democrats may have held their losses to a more normal amount (around 30 seats in the House).  Remember that Dems lost multiple seats that they should have been able to hold even in a bad year like FL-22, IL-17, TX-27, NY-24, NC-02, MN-08, etc.

FL-22: Klein voted for ObamaCare
NY-24: Republicans held that seat before the 2006 Dem Wave.
MN-08: Cravack wiped the floor with Oberstar in a debate.

No way should Dems should have lost TX-27 though I agree with you there.

[hopper]

And above all, it was the sheer stupidity and amnesia of the voters. Putting Republicans back in charge in 2010 because of the economy after we'd thoroughly vanquished them in 2006 and 2008 because of the economy is like you're not losing weight fast enough on a diet so you start pounding down cheeseburgers.

I don't think politics works that way the Presidents Party almost always loses Seats in Congress in mid-term years. It happened to Reagan in 1982(because of inflation and the economy was bad) when the Republicans lost 26 House Seats in that mid-term year.

[hopper]

Because mostly old angry white people vote in midterms.

This is why the Democrats who think they'll landslide in midterms during a Republican president are silly. The old angry white people who vote in midterms are not going to suddenly start hating the GOP in most circumstances. 2006 was an aberration because Bush was SO godawful that even many of the old angry white people stayed home or voted D in protest.

Well I'm sure Old Angry White People voted in mid-terms elections from 1954-1990 when the Dems held a majority in the US House from 1955-1994.

I agree with you about 2006 Bush W. was hated because of the Iraq War.

[hopper]

2010 is extremely obvious- weakest point of employment combined with Obamacare/cap and trade anger.  The 2014 GOP wave is the harder one to explain, particularly as it is very rare for a party to get wiped out during both midterms of the same presidency.

Yeah, 2014 made even less sense especially given that the economy was quite good by that point.

Yeah but on Election Day 2014 Obama's approval ratings were like 42%.

[hopper]

Democrats were over-extended after 2006 and and 2008. They held a lot of deep red territory that they honestly had no business holding in the first place.

True Dems were overextended into alot of Republican Districts from the 2006 wave I think. But also Dems were trounced because the economy was bad, ObamaCare, Obama's approvals were like 47% on Election Day.

[hopper]

All it was, was turnout.

Nah, Turnout was like 39-40% the same it always is in mid-term elections although in 2014 it was 37%. The thing is the Dems lost Indies by 14-15% points thats what killed them.