U.S. Election Macro Review

November 1, 2012 — The status quo outcome of the elections was a victory for Democrats and President Obama’s administration. This was countered to some degree by the return of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives which has left us with an unchanged mix of policymakers in Washington. Importantly, we note that while many of the federal elections were tilted toward Democrats, the Gubernatorial races across the country were largely won by the Republicans. Indeed, 30 U.S. statehouses were won by the Republicans, the most in a decade. These election successes were largely based on pledges to cut taxes and spur economic growth. Overall, while the election results suggest that voters have very mixed views about the direction of taxation it is clear that they are expecting their respective politicians to focus most of their attention on promoting job creation both at the Federal and local level. How best to do it will remain the debate of the day.