We have about 15 of the primaries behind us and a long road ahead…..but the big story that has lots of speculation tied to it is that of voter turnout…..
The Repub turnout seems to be breaking records…..lots of good feelings a about the election to come……sadly that enthusiasm is not the same on the DEMs side….in this case the turnout is well below that of say 2008…..the MSM is scrambling to analyze this occurrence……but the answer is simple…
Democrats might have a serious problem on their hands heading into the 2016 general election, the New York Times reports. In the 15 states that have held primaries or caucuses already, approximately 3 million fewer Democratic voters turned out this year than did in 2008. According to the Huffington Post, this year’s Democratic presidential candidates are getting about two-thirds of the votes the candidates got in 2008, and party leaders “should be very, very worried.” Democratic voter turnout was especially bad in some Super Tuesday states, including a 50% drop-off in Texas and a 40% drop-off in Tennessee. And as HuffPo points out, it’s become far more important in presidential races to turn out your own voters than win over independents.
Democrats are blaming everything from Republican-backed voting laws to poor debate scheduling for the low turnout. But HuffPo has a simpler explanation: “Republicans are psyched; Democrats are demoralized.” NBC News reports the primary voting numbers are about the same as they were in 2008, but the parties are reversed. Republican voters outnumbered Democratic voters by 2.7 million on Super Tuesday, and the GOP has set turnout records in 14 out of 15 states so far. Even worse, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders aren’t bringing out the huge numbers of young, new, and minority voters Obama did in 2008. “Barack Obama without that surge is John Kerry,” one pollster tells the Times. Or as HuffPo puts it: “It’s time to start worrying about President Trump.”
I believe this situation is the making of the MSM themselves…..they all but crowned Clinton as the nominee back last Summer and the voters just cannot work up any excitement for her or Bernie…..
Then there is the GOP….no matter how hard they try to counter the Trump rise they just cannot seem to find the right line through the maze….
If you have ever been involved in something that made you grieve then you understand the stages of grief that a person must go through….well the way it appears is that the GOP will just have to deal with their grief……
Source: The five stages of Republicans’ grief over Donald Trump – Al Jazeera English
I would say skip 1-4 and go straight to 5, acceptance, they have no other choice other than an ulcer…..
2016 is anything but exciting, at least for me, it illustrates just how completely f*cked up our election process has become….and it appears that there is very little on the horizon that can make the change……this country is so screwed!
Thanks, America (a good title for another post)
As I pointed out after the Iowa Cock-us, Republicans are turning up in greater numbers than the Democrats. Yes, Iowa is a Red State. But when the 2nd last place Republican in a field of 27 gets more votes than ALL Democrats combined….who are in race so tight they had to flips coins….that’s concerning.
But it seems that trend has continued. No matter how you slice it, that’s seriously concerning for Democrats! If they can’t get more votes in a real Primary race than Republicans, especially when all the “serious” big-ticket Republicans are gone. The Republican crazies & nobodies are pulling in more votes than the Democrats. This shouldn’t be happening when the Democrat’s demographic base is larger and that gap is growing.
That doesn’t bode well for this Presidential election. They may still win this race “they couldn’t possibly lose”, but not nearly by the margin they should. That’s REALLY bad news for Congressional Democrats. The system is rigged so Democrats can’t carry Congress with the most total votes, nationally speaking. (See: 2014) If they don’t have a Presidential nominee with a clear margin of victory to ride on, you may see a Republican clean sweep. Losing the Presidency almost certainly means failing to win back either House, if not deepening those loses.
That’s the scariest outcome of all. President Trump. A double House Republican (filibuster-proof) majority. A Teabagger Congressional wing led by an empowered Cruz who beat a dozen Establishment candidates shitless in the Primaries. A Republican establishment that can’t even crack the top 4 in their own Presidential Primaries. (Rookie Rubio don’t count as Establishment, but even if he did). Trump & Teabaggers in almost total control.
If you thought things were crazy now…If that happens, I’m moving to Canada. 🙂
My next post helps explain the lack of the enthused voter on the Dems side….
The minute the inauguration ( or the coronation as the case may be) is ended the next election cycle will begin. Our sense of time compression for events in this country is outrageous. I am sick of it. I need room to breathe.