There’s a certain freedom in low expectations(低期望). Going in to Tuesday’s midterm elections, forecasts were so grim for the Republicans that poll watchers started trading a kind of knowing joke: that the results would either mean the end of the Trump era, or the end of the polling profession.(周二中期选举前，对共和党的预测如此悲观，以至于民调观察人士开始交换一种心照不宣的笑话：选举结果要么意味着特朗普时代的终结，要么意味着民调行业的终结。)
期望值低也有某种好处。周二中期选举前，对共和党的预测如此悲观，以至于民调观察人士开始交换一种心照不宣的笑话：选举结果要么意味着特朗普时代的终结，要么意味着民调行业的终结。
Amid those sorts of predictions(在这些预测中), any Republican victories would have seemed like a minor miracle(小小的奇迹). The expectation was that Democrats would have a blowout(大获全胜); Republicans, counting on the final tally to be a bit more mixed, would therefore almost certainly have the freedom to claim that they’d done better than anyone had thought they would.(而共和党则指望最终计票结果能稍微复杂一些，因此几乎肯定可以自由地宣称自己的表现比任何人预想的都要好。)
在这些预测中，共和党哪怕取得任何胜利都像是小小的奇迹。人们预期民主党会大获全胜；而共和党则指望最终计票结果能稍微复杂一些，因此几乎肯定可以自由地宣称自己的表现比任何人预想的都要好。
It will be difficult to credit(相信) those spins(说辞，政治性解读) today. The electorate(选民) issued the president a message(向总统发出信号) of dissatisfaction with the second Trump term, and voted decisively to curb(遏制) his power.
今天很难再相信这些说辞了。选民向总统发出了对特朗普第二任期不满的信号，并果断投票以遏制他的权力。