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February 5
Why is there a six-year itch, but no four-year itch? Someone who's wrong on the internet (talk) 15:46, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- I don't think we're capable of answering why an idiom hasn't formed. Why do you think it should have? --Golbez (talk) 16:56, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- I don't think the term "six year itch" is in very common usage either. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:01, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- Part of the 6-year itch is that it falls on a midterm election. So, you can't have a 4-year itch (or an 8-year itch) because those are not midterm election years. You are left with 2 and 6 years as the options. I assume nobody cares much to talk about a 2-year itch. Also, this is derived from the more common 7-year itch. So, it would need to be a number near 7. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 18:44, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- Why only the midterms? Someone who's wrong on the internet (talk) 18:51, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- After four years a sitting president runs for reelection. This is often successful (Obama, Bush Jr., Clinton, Reagan, ...). The successful presidential campaign may pull the House and Senate elections along by the coattail effect. Maybe somebody can provide some data? --Wrongfilter (talk) 19:02, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
- I have not looked at the data, so I don't know if the claimed pattern is statistically significant, compared for example with a dip for the sitting president's party after their (almost) first two years in office, as in:
- the "shellacking"[1] of Obama in the 2010 midterm elections with the Republicans winning control of the House,
- a similar loss after almost two years of Trump in the 2018 midterm elections with the Democrats regaining control of the House,
- and again after almost two years of Biden in the 2022 midterm elections with the Republicans again winning the House.
- If there is national disgruntlement after the first four years, neither the president nor their party win in the elections. Apparently no one has named this not uncommon event with some catchy name; if someone tried, it did not catch on. ‑‑Lambiam 20:11, 5 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]