經濟增長未能打消美國選民疑慮

The US economy is growing at its fastest rate in a decade ahead of today’s congressional elections, the kind of uptick that would lift any leader facing voters in struggling Europe or Japan.

今日國會選舉前夕，數據顯示美國經濟正經歷10年以來最快的增長率，在苦苦掙扎的歐洲或日本，這種增長足以提高領導人在選民中的人氣。

But Barack Obama and the Democrats are encountering only headwinds as polls point to a sullen US electorate handing the Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in eight years and lifting their majority in the House to the biggest margin in half a century.

但巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)和民主黨(Democrat)所面臨的只有逆風，民調顯示，憤懣的美國選民8年來將首次讓共和黨控制參議院，並幫助衆議院中的共和黨人取得半個世紀以來最大席位優勢。

That would sharply boost the morale of a Republican party that has been portrayed as stuck in an ideological cul-de-sac in recent years, reliant on a declining voter base of ageing white men.

這將大幅提振共和黨的士氣。該黨近年被描繪成陷入意識形態死衚衕，依靠人數不斷下降的老年白人選民支持。

The broader mood of the electorate favours neither side, however. At the moment when the US is taking back its traditional position as the locomotive of the global economy, Americans themselves remain gloomy about their country’s, and their own, prospects.

然而選民對兩黨的整體情緒都不怎麼樣。就在美國恢復其作爲全球經濟的火車頭的傳統地位之際，美國人卻仍對自己的國家和他們自己的前景感到悲觀。

“I think voters are anti the Democrats; I don’t think they are for the Republicans,” said Michael Barone, of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think-tank.

華盛頓保守派智庫——美國企業研究所(American Enterprise Institute)的邁克爾•巴羅(Michael Barone)說：“我認爲選民抱有反民主黨的情緒，我不認爲他們支持共和黨人。”

The benchmark polls that track voter sentiment with a simple question about whether the country is on the right or wrong track have now been in deep negative territory since the administration of George W. Bush.

用一個簡單的問題（美國正處在正確還是錯誤的軌道上？）來追蹤選民情緒的基準調查，目前深陷自喬治·W·布什(George W Bush)政府以來的負值區間。

For a nation that has prided itself on its inveterate optimism and the belief that each generation would be better off than the last, negative sentiment about the future is the new normal.

美國人曾自豪於其根深蒂固的樂觀精神，堅信每一代人都會過得比上一代人更好，但如今美國人對未來的負面情緒成了新常態。

The parties’ campaigns, as well as a flood of often anonymous donations from wealthy business leaders on both sides, have reinforced the cynicism with a tidal wave of negative advertising.

兩黨的競選活動，以及富裕商界領袖對兩黨作出的往往匿名的大量捐款，都以鋪天蓋地的負面廣告，強化了人們的懷疑心態。

This midterm election will cost $4bn, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics, a record amount for a non-presidential year. In the small, highly contested state of Iowa, one local television ran about 20 political ads in a row.

根據響應性政治中心(Center for Responsive Politics)的數據，本次中期選舉將耗資40億美元，創下非總統選舉年的紀錄。在地域不大，卻是兩黨爭奪重點的愛荷華州，當地一家電視臺連續播出了約20個政治廣告。

On his rare appearances on the campaign trail, Mr Obama has tried to counter the negative mood. “Despite all the cynicism, America is making progress,” he said at a rally in Connecticut for the governor’s race.

奧巴馬在此次競選期間罕有的幾次露面中試圖對抗負面情緒。他在康涅狄格州一次州長競選的集會上說：“儘管有這麼多懷疑情緒，但美國正取得進展。”