经济增长未能打消美国选民疑虑

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.

今日国会选举前夕，数据显示美国经济正经历10年以来最快的增长率，在苦苦挣扎的欧洲或日本，这种增长足以提高领导人在选民中的人气。

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•奥巴马(Barack Obama)和民主党(Democrat)所面临的只有逆风，民调显示，愤懑的美国选民8年来将首次让共和党控制参议院，并帮助众议院中的共和党人取得半个世纪以来最大席位优势。

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.

这将大幅提振共和党的士气。该党近年被描绘成陷入意识形态死胡同，依靠人数不断下降的老年白人选民支持。

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.

然而选民对两党的整体情绪都不怎么样。就在美国恢复其作为全球经济的火车头的传统地位之际，美国人却仍对自己的国家和他们自己的前景感到悲观。

“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.

华盛顿保守派智库——美国企业研究所(American Enterprise Institute)的迈克尔•巴罗(Michael Barone)说：“我认为选民抱有反民主党的情绪，我不认为他们支持共和党人。”

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.

用一个简单的问题（美国正处在正确还是错误的轨道上？）来追踪选民情绪的基准调查，目前深陷自乔治·W·布什(George W Bush)政府以来的负值区间。

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.

美国人曾自豪于其根深蒂固的乐观精神，坚信每一代人都会过得比上一代人更好，但如今美国人对未来的负面情绪成了新常态。

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.

两党的竞选活动，以及富裕商界领袖对两党作出的往往匿名的大量捐款，都以铺天盖地的负面广告，强化了人们的怀疑心态。

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.

根据响应性政治中心(Center for Responsive Politics)的数据，本次中期选举将耗资40亿美元，创下非总统选举年的纪录。在地域不大，却是两党争夺重点的爱荷华州，当地一家电视台连续播出了约20个政治广告。

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.

奥巴马在此次竞选期间罕有的几次露面中试图对抗负面情绪。他在康涅狄格州一次州长竞选的集会上说：“尽管有这么多怀疑情绪，但美国正取得进展。”