Shift in US foreign policy if Democrats retake the house?

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Almost two years after business tycoon turned US President Donald Trump entered the White House, Americans will vote another round on November 6.

The US mid-term elections are held every four years. The polling is conducted to elect new Congressional members and not the president.

But the results of the mid-term election may have an impact on the Trump administration for his remaining term in the Oval Office, or even on the presidential elections that are scheduled to take place two years later.

The United States Congress is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives. On November 6, American voters will elect members for the two houses. The House of Representatives and the Senate draft and enact laws jointly. A Senate member also has the power to determine or refuse the president's appointees to senior government offices and US courts.

Currently, both the Senate and the House of Representatives are controlled by the Republican Party, that is Trump's party.

But the Democratic Party believes that they can win most of the seats in the House of Representatives, thus gaining its control.

Polls indicate that Republicans will most likely lose control of the House, but will manage to keep the majority in the Senate.

CGTN's White House correspondent, Nathan King, explains that there are a total of 435 seats in the House, out of which 60 to 70 seats are considered competitive. Democrats only need about 23 or 24 to regain control.

On the other hand, for the Senate, only a third of total seats are up for re-election, but Democrats are defending themselves in many states that voted for US President Trump in 2016, so even the Democrats could lose some ground.

So, the polls indicate a victory for the Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Republicans perhaps holding the Senate.

"Although there's been a lot of talk of the blue wave, a lot could still happen in three weeks," said Nathan. "Remember this is Trump's America where the news cycle is on fast-forward the whole time."

In response, Eleanor Clift, political analyst for The Daily Beast said the conventional wisdom is that the Democrats will pick up the house and the Republicans are likely to hold the Senate. It's two different Americas because the House will turn largely on suburban districts and an extraordinary number of women will be on the political stage.

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In one scenario Donald Trump has been described in the media as a misogynistic racist, the man who's brought a lot of disturbance to the office of the president, but in the other scenario Donald Trump is considered as a smart leader who puts America first.

"It's hard to say," said political commentator Amy Holmes, adding that this time both Democrats and Republicans in Washington want the poll slogan to be about Donald Trump.

Eleanor stated that Trump didn't present much of a legislative agenda, with tax reform being his only big legislative achievement in two years.

During these two years, Trump been adopted his isolationist foreign policies. He pulled America out of the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate change accord and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Just two weeks ago, Trump dismissed the idea of multilateralism in the grab of patriotism at the UN General Assembly in New York.

But will there be a shift in US foreign policy if the Democrats retake the house?

Nathan said that perhaps the Democrats will be different, Trump would be at the mercy of Congressional approvals if the house goes to the Democrats.

Amy pointed out that Donald Trump's foreign policy is not accurately described as isolationist. Trump negotiated the US, Mexico, and Canada trade deal.

"If the Democrats take over the House, it will get bogged down in subpoenas, investigation, and oversight," said Amy.

Eleanor said that the Democrats have to wake up their constituents who don't usually vote in these mid-term elections and new people who never have voted before have to be brought into the process.

"It's the contest of wills, energy and some extent contest of ideas," said Eleanor.

The Heat with Anand Naidoo is a 30-minute political talk show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 7:00 a.m. BJT and 7:00 p.m. Eastern in the United States.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)