Democrats are expected to hurt as Republicans sweep through Congress and local legislatures

The 2014 Midterm election may give Republicans a historic opportunity to take control of a record number of state legislatures across the country, made possible by America's increasing dissatisfaction with President Obama and Democrats-who have been eager to distance themselves from the unpopular policies of the unpopular president.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - This follows on the heels of Republican landslide victories in 2010-wherein the party took some 700 seats, and subsequent redistricting in 2012, which combined to give the Republicans control of 59 of 98 partisan chambers in 49 states.

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In contrast, Democrats control only 39 chambers.

Once the polls close and votes are calculated for the more than 6,000 legislative races up for grabs this elections, Republicans could grab even more.

In Iowa, Democrats need to hang on to the state Senate to keep Republican Governor Terry Branstad from sweeping reform. Similarly, Arkansas Republicans must control the state House and win the Gubernatorial race to fight Obamacare.

If Kentucky goes red, then Senator Rand Paul has a good shot at running for president in 2016.

"The states have been pushing the envelope from all directions, and sometimes counter-intuitively," said Tim Storey, a legislative analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures. "Immigration, minimum wage, tax increases, tax cuts, environmental legislation, abortion rights, all of those things, you've had a real uptick in policy making at the state level."

A recently published Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that just 43% of Americans approve of President Obama's job performance. The poll revealed that Americans prefer Republicans by a 6% margin-50% to 44%.

History also supports Republicans doing well this election cycle. Since 1900, 26 of 28 midterms have been poor showings for the party that controls the White House.

"For Republicans, the main message point everywhere is, it's about Obama. There's not a lot of creativity there," said Michael Sargeant, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. "It's a difficult political environment."

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