“We are witnessing a repudiation of Washington, of big government … and politicians who refuse to listen to the American people,” said Republican minority leader John Boehner, of Ohio, who is poised to succeed Nancy Pelosi, of California, as speaker of the House.
His voice choking with emotions, Boehner told an exuberant crowd of supporters that it was “not a time for celebration, but a time to roll up our sleeves and go to work.”
With both parties on course to each control one of the two chambers, the stage is set for confrontation in a more polarized Congress and an unpredictable re-election campaign for Obama in 2012.
In surveys of voters as they left polling places Tuesday sponsored by the TV networks and the Associated Press, two-thirds of Democratic supporters said the government needs to do more to address issues facing the nation. Eight in 10 Republicans said the government needs to do less.
Six in 10 Democratic voters called for the health care law, which sets new regulations for insurance companies and requires most Americans to buy coverage, to be expanded to cover more people. Eight in 10 Republicans wanted it repealed.
