A Republican majority in the United States Congress is likely to cause headaches for President Joe Biden in terms of passing legislation on domestic issues, but foreign policy won't be impacted, an expert says.
University of Auckland politics and international relations lecturer Stephen Hoadley told Breakfast this morning that many moderate Republicans in power are supportive of Biden's stance on international relations.
"The Republicans actually agree with Biden's China policy, and many of them agree with his Russia policy, even though Trump may not.
"I'm optimistic that he'll carry through the more progressive internationalist policies that he has replaced Trump's isolationist policies within the last two years."
This means Biden's approach to China - which is focused on out-competing it, building alliances with other countries, and even collaborating with the fellow global power on climate change - should be able to continue.
On the other hand, attempts to pass legislation within US borders are likely to be blocked at every turn should either chamber of Congress fall into Republican hands.
"It's in the domestic sphere that the great controversies will occur and Biden may be slowed down considerably there."
While the final results for who will control the House of Representatives or Senate are yet to be confirmed, Hoadley is expecting the House will turn red.
"It's a shift of US politics to a more dissatisfied, disgruntled electorate.
"Many of the people are unemployed, there are high prices, there's controversies and the US seems to be very polarised."
Hoadley said midterm elections typically reflect the sentiment of the general population towards the sitting president.
"In some respects it's a referendum on the president's performance.
"It also indicates which party might be putting up the next winning president."
All eyes are on Donald Trump, who might have been hoping to come in on the "red wave" in 2024, but Hoadley says this is looking to be more of a trickle.
"The result may not be as bad as the Democrats feared, or the Republicans hoped," Hoadley said.
He says centrist voters likely played a role in preventing the shift to far-right politics.
"That's encouraging that maybe there is a centre, a middle ground in US politics, rather than the extreme polarisation that we've seen in the last couple of years."
Which party ends up controlling Congress remains up in the air, however, with ballots still being counted across the country and Georgia's Senate race heading to a runoff election in four weeks time.
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