Less than an hour after President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the separation of families detained while trying to enter the U.S. illegally, pundits and pols were speculating about whether the fallout from the controversy fuels a Democratic sweep of House and Senate seats this November.
According to a just-completed CNN poll released as Trump was signing his order, support for Democrats in the midterm elections was up to 50 percent among registered voters nationwide.
In contrast, support for Republican running for the House and Senate was down to 42 percent.
Did this spell a Democratic gain of 30 or even more seats in the House and a possible net gain of two seats needed for rule of the Senate?
"It's good news for the Democrats, but early," veteran political scientist Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told Newsmax. "In many ways, the better news for them is the stunning set of victories in special elections at all levels. Including one [Tuesday] in Miami-Dade [Florida]."
Ornstein added "all signal a wave."
Henry Olsen, author of the much-praised book "The Working Class Republican," said the latest numbers are "consistent with a net gain of 30 seats in the House for Democrats, but not much more."
(Democrats need 25 seats for a majority in the House that would make Nancy Pelosi speaker.)
But other political experts were not as convinced.
"If the election were held today, this would indeed signal a blue tide," said historian David Pietrusza, author of the new book on Theodore Roosevelt entitled "TR's Last War." "The last time I looked, elections were not held in June."
Piestrusza's analysis was echoed by Franklin and Marshall College (Pa.) Prof. G. Terry Madonna, considered the premier pollster in Pennsylvania.
"I'm not there yet," Madonna told us. "No doubt Democratic voters are more interested and at the moment more likely to vote. And history is on their side, as you know."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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