The results of the upcoming Tuesday midterm elections hinge on important issues such as the economy, crime and civil rights, according to UCLA students and faculty.

Currently, the Democratic party holds control over the Senate and House of Representatives, but the Republican party is favored to gain control over the House, according to POLITICO. A CNN poll from late October found that 51% of likely voters thought the economy and inflation were the most important issues impacting their vote, followed by abortion, voting rights and guns.

Both crime and inflation will negatively affect Democratic candidates because their party currently holds the presidency, as well as majorities in both houses of Congress, said Gary Orfield, professor of education, law, political science and urban planning and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. He added that this signals to voters that the party in power has been unable to effectively address key issues.

However, Orfield said federal lawmakers have little control over these two issues. Much of inflation has to do with a global supply chain crisis and crime rates are not significantly increasing, he said, adding that local and state governments often target crime, not federal lawmakers.

Orfield also said he is concerned about the number of candidates in this year’s election who don’t believe in democratic processes. According to FiveThirtyEight, 60% of Americans will have a candidate on their ballot who denies the validity of President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win.

“It’s a big majority of Republicans. Very few Democrats share that view,” Orfield said. “But it’s dangerous. It’s really dangerous. … We’ve got a party that’s really playing a very, very dangerous game for their future trying to divide our country.”

Jessa Bayudan, a second-year sociology student, echoed Orfield’s concerns that voters are concerned about American democracy in an emailed statement. Many women will be more motivated to vote, particularly on the issue of access to abortion, given the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade – which guaranteed the federal right to an abortion – in the summer, she said.

[Related: California to vote on state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights]

Democrats also performed well in special elections in New York and Alaska after the court’s decision. Tajvir Singh, a second-year political science student, said he took notice of the Democrats’ post-decision surge, but does not believe it will last into the election.

Singh added that he thinks statewide or local issues may also be taking precedence over concerns about democracy. He also believes gas prices, inflation and crime might be more noticeable in voters’ day-to-day lives, he said. According to Pew Research, voters could be responding to surges of crime occurring in 2022, but the most recent officially released data did not show a surge in violent crime in 2021.

“If you believe that questioning election results is maybe a threat to democracy, … you may very well believe that to be true, but the average voter doesn’t care about those things,” Singh said.

While Democrats’ prospects for retaining their House majority seem slim, Bayudan added she’s more confident they will hold onto the Senate.

Singh said he is watching out for races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and New Hampshire, which could determine the balance of the Senate.

Given the Supreme Court’s recent signals that it will overturn protections for voting rights and affirmative action, Orfield said the makeup of Congress will determine whether rights are restored by federal lawmakers.

“You can’t overturn a constitutional decision by the Supreme Court, but … Congress can change the law, repair the damage,” he said. “That’s important, and we need to have a Congress who will watch over and do that. It’s all going to be part of the lead-up to a very consequential presidential election in two years.”