Sabato: It's a "two presidents mid-term"

[Progressive Pessimist]

Makes sense to me. I don't think any President has had to deal with the shadow of the last one as much as Biden has with Trump. Trump's legitimizing of Biden's victory certainly has helped cause this phenomenon. However, it might not be working to the benefit of Trump's party as much as he thinks it is. Not like he cares.

[Progressive Pessimist]

To those saying that it's still a Biden midterm in the end, that is fair. He is the sitting President, and is unpopular. However, I would like to point out that Democrats in most elections this year don't seem to be as tethered to him as Republicans are to Trump. And it didn't have to be this way: Trump didn't have to get involved with these elections to satiate his ego (though he can never resist) and GOP candidates didn't have to talk more about him than about concerns of the average American-but he put them in that position. Something worth considering that reinforces Sabato's observation here.