How did Dem survive 9% inflation + $5 gas in 2022, while the GOP lost both chambers in 26?

Looking strictly at the midterm results, 2022 was widely expected to be a massive wave election given 40-year-high inflation, rising mortgage rates, $5/gallon gas, and a Dow Jones sitting around 33,160 (down nearly 8% on the year)

Yet Democrats gained a Senate seat and barely lost the House.

?Fast forward to 2026: median household income has climbed by roughly $14,000 since 2021 (hitting a Census-record $87,460), the Dow is up nearly 20,000 points higher at over 52,400, and overall inflation is well below its 2022 peak yet Republicans still lost control of both the House and the Senate, including several traditionally red states.

?A common explanation for the 2026 results is that the Iran conflict and resulting Strait of Hormuz gas price spikes sank Republican candidates.

However, in 2022, the Biden administration was navigating the aftermath of the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal (where Department of Defense audits placed left behind equipment at $7.1 billion) alongside tens of billions in aid to Ukraine during a major European war and still avoided a major midterm wipeout.

?1. What explains the difference in how voters assigned blame between 2022 and 2026? Why did voters punish the GOP so heavily in 2026 despite a 20,000-point higher Dow and record median household income ($87,460, up $14k from 2021), when Democrats survived far worse inflation, gas, and stock market headlines in 2022?

?2. Why did voters treat the $50 billion Iran conflict and Hormuz oil spike differently than the Ukraine war and Afghanistan withdrawal?

?3. Was the 2026 outcome driven more by the Iran conflict itself, or by tariffs and unmet campaign promises on Day One prices?