There are many things that could be foremost on the minds of 2022 voters when they go to the polls on Nov. 8.

Their choice for main issues is likely to shape which party will be most successful. Republicans are hoping they’ll choose the economy, along with crime and immigration. Secondly, their hope is that the public will blame President Biden for everything that hasn’t gone well in those areas.

It’s a tradition to say that voters usually vote based on their pocketbooks. That’s likely to be true in 2022 because living expenses have outpaced income gains for millions of Americans.

They’re going to want something to change. Republicans want the change to involve less government. They want the free market to drive economic growth.

If voters keep it that simple; they’re likely to blame President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Some might ask the question, however, if it’s right to blame government when the Unites States is a hard core capitalist country.

I’m surprised that there aren’t more anti-corporate themes in the campaigns of Democrats. They could blame corporate powers-that-be, who unfortunately never have to answer to the general public.

They might reach voters by portraying corporate executives as the ultimate middle men of the 21st century. The executives decide what to charge for their goods. They set up the supply chain networks that have in many ways been strained.

Maybe the reason we don’t hear much of that is a concern over how it might backfire with moderate voters, the swing voters who are needed to win the close races.

Millions of people work for corporations. They might not always like their jobs, but the bottom line is that they need those jobs to put food on the table. They’re unlikely to back candidates who go too far in portraying the corporate sector as bad guys.

It’s easier to blame politicians. They can’t vent their anger at their supervisors or executives (unless they want to lose their jobs) but they can cast votes to throw out incumbents.

If Democrats can’t get enough voters to blame the private sector on economics, their best bet is to hope they can appeal on other issues. There are plenty of them to choose from.

Abortion is on people’s minds. People haven’t forgotten George Floyd. There’s also education, the environment, energy policy, the war in Ukraine, the aftermath of COVID, consumer debt, and housing costs.

With immigration we have the idea of humane treatment at the border. Then there’s the potential to prevent violence with steps such as expanded mental health services and more background checks.

The list could get longer if I gave it more than a minute or two of thought. It’s hard to know how it will all balance out in the minds of most voters.

In some cases it might not get decided until they get to the polls. Little things like a higher than expected grocery bill or an added health care expense could tilt someone in one direction or the other.

It’s a year when most people seem to think that neither party is perfect. Election 2020 was a decisive step, with the removal of an incumbent President and the election of a fully Democratic majority in Congress.

Now a highly divided general public must decide whether or not it’s time to shift things back, if such a shift could be a step toward better unity. We know from history that it can work in America to have a divided federal government.

Between 1969 and 1993 Republicans completely occupied the White House for all but four years while Democrats controlled Congress for all but six years of a Republican Senate majority.

The difference between then and now is that there’s so much more partisanship, so much more of an attempt to persuade voters that the other side is bad. It’s gotten to the point that friendships can hinge on whether people are liberal or conservative.

A way to change that could be to inform ourselves on the issues, to know the rationale that underlies each of the two sides. It’s important that we don’t get all our information from one place, particular not from a radical media source with an agenda. We need information that will enable us to make up our own minds.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent