00:00Can I just focus also on the latest projections right now?
00:03And interestingly, that's giving Democrats an edge.
00:06Let's be very clear, voting is underway, but unlike India and America,
00:09you'll also constantly have these projections coming out,
00:12opinion polls that are constantly being put out.
00:15So a couple of numbers that we have, there's John Zogby's strategies,
00:19which projects the Dems ahead at 53%, and the Republicans,
00:22mostly behind at 47%.
00:25YouGov is another projection that's come out, again, at 53% Democrats and 44% Republicans.
00:31Quality IQ, national polling average at 52.7% for Democrats, 43.2% for Republicans.
00:38So these are essentially some of the projections that have come to the fore.
00:42And even previously before this, most of the opinion polls do suggest that the Democrats have that edge.
00:48So far, 54.5 million Americans cast their ballots early,
00:54either in person or by mail.
00:55And what you need to understand about these midterms and how America's voting system works
00:59is that it's not just in 24 hours everyone voting.
01:02It's actually leading up to this moment for the last many weeks
01:05with people being given their opportunity to cast their ballot also by mail.
01:09And so a lot of the voting is already done.
01:12Let me bring in Geeta Mohan, Pranay Upadhyay and Gaurav Savant on this.
01:16Geeta, to you first on the projections that we're putting out on our screens.
01:19Largely, this seems to be the view that the edge Geeta currently is to the Dems.
01:24Absolutely, it does seem like Democrats have an edge over Republicans.
01:29And also it's because, like Rohit was pointing out,
01:32unlike I've been speaking with various people on the ground,
01:35they're saying, Akshita, that the focus is economy
01:39and the fact that things have become dearer,
01:42prices have gone up,
01:44and they're not very happy with the promises that were made and not kept.
01:48So these are primary reasons why voters are not looking at Republican Party this time around.
01:55So it's not a positive for Democrats.
01:57It's actually negative voting for the Republicans, Akshita.
02:00They do not want to show confidence in the Republicans
02:04and therefore are voting Democrats.
02:06Rohit, I'll just quickly bring you in on that.
02:08Do you view this essentially, if the Democrats are ahead,
02:12that it's essentially an anti-Trump vote and nothing else?
02:14That's the biggest factor here.
02:17I think, you know, we have to go back two years ago
02:19and you have to realize why did people vote for President Donald Trump.
02:22I think people wanted change.
02:24He talked about regular pricing law.
02:25He talked about how he would not start wars.
02:27He talked about common sense reforms.
02:29And what we've seen over the last two years
02:31is we've grappled with inflation.
02:33We are grappling with high prices.
02:35We're grappling with this war that was supposed to be six weeks
02:37and it's still going on and it's prolonged to the fact,
02:39to the point where the diesel prices have skyrocketed.
02:42So I think this essentially is the voters in America,
02:46the citizens of America voting to send a message to President Trump
02:50to course correct.
02:51And I think that is the correct statement to say
02:53this may not well be for the Democrats,
02:54but it's against the existing policies
02:58and sending a message to President Donald Trump.
03:01You know, I started off this broadcast.
03:03I'll bring in Gaurav Savant on this.
03:04I started off this broadcast, Gaurav,
03:06talking about how never before has a midterm election
03:09been this closely watched across the world.
03:12Why do you think that is?
03:13You know, why is this so high stakes
03:15that everyone's talking about it,
03:17everyone's watching those images on our screens right now?
03:20It's the nature of the beast, if I may,
03:22and it's Donald Trump's policies.
03:25You know, he's impacting the world in so many different ways,
03:30either through his tariffs or the war that is being waged
03:33and it's having an impact across the world.
03:35So everyone wants to know what way will these policies move forward
03:39post the midterm elections.
03:41But if I may, when you look at American history
03:44and 250 years of American history,
03:46the incumbent in White House has won midterms only thrice.
03:50You know, and if you just look at recent history,
03:53whether it was Barack Obama or Joe Biden
03:55or Donald Trump in his first tenure,
03:57the incumbent in the White House loses the midterms.
04:01Projections, but, you know, and if I may,
04:03projections in the past, they've often predicted
04:07with main elections, whether it was Kamala Harris
04:09was likely to win or Hillary Clinton was likely to win,
04:12but both times they didn't and Donald Trump did.
04:15So it really remains to be seen how things shape up.
04:19Yes, there is a very strong blue wave that is predicted
04:23and diesel prices are the principal reason
04:26why America is so unhappy.
04:29The war in Iran supposed to last a week.
04:32It's still going on.
04:33Just this morning, Keshem Island was bombed by the Americans.
04:37They say it was a retaliatory measure
04:39and just a very small step.
04:40The war is not escalating,
04:41but the world is facing the brunt of Trump tariffs and Trump wars.
04:47Okay, since we're putting out those numbers,
04:48Pranay, I'll just come to you in a bit.
