Posted on 08/20/2009 10:37:49 PM PDT by Scanian
Among the most powerful psephological tools available to political strategists and commentators is the well-known Upchuck Factor. Never heard of it? I'm surprised.
The Upchuck Factor is, quite simply, the length of time it takes the US voter to decide that s/he's "had enough" of the Democrats. And it looks like this year it is hitting a new record.
You may have been taught in school, for instance, that the American people loved Franklin Delano Roosevelt so much that they would have gone on voting for him forever. In fact the American people demonstrated in the mid-term election of 1938 that they were ready to upchuck him and all his works. The 1938 elections featured an 81-seat gain in the House of Representatives for the Republicans. Figure that FDR's Upchuck Factor was 6.
What was the problem in 1938? It wasn't that complicated. After six years of political bombast and war on the private sector -- and after FDR gunned the economy into the red zone in 1936 with unprecedented stimulus -- the economy collapsed in 1937 and the American people decided that they had had enough. They determined to upchuck the New York machine politics of FDR. But then along came World War II and saved his political skin.
The 1960s is another era in which we are taught that Americans loved their government. They basked in the sun of JFK and LBJ, and loved the exciting space programs and wars on poverty. But in fact, the American people decided they had had enough after six years of it. In 1966, well before the Summer of Love, American voters upchucked and gave the Republicans 47 additional seats in the House. Two years later they sent the very un-sunny Richard Nixon to the White House.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Really excellent article. I like “middle class Americans are taking it to the street.” Ah...protest is sweet!
Great article.
Bwahahahahahahahahaha
But FDR won a third term in 1940, a year after the war in Europe started and another year before Pearl Harbor. World War Two didn't rescue his popularity. He was four for four while heading the ballot.
The man won four terms and was a very popular president, and I write that in spite of the furious hatred most freepers have at the very mention of his name. This article focuses on one off year election as proof of FDR becoming unpopular in 1938. Objectively, that would be the equivalent of using the 1982 and 1986 off year elections as proof of Reagan's unpopularity.
Articles on Vomit aren’t my usual “Go To” when I need a smile.
This one settled better than a Bromo after Thanksgiving Dinner.
Granted, I've been to 3 State Fairs, a Rodeo, and the Tijuana Donkey Show, but I ain't ever heard the word psephological before either.
“psephological”?
Putting a word that only a dozen people on earth recognize in the first sentence of an article is a sure way to put the readers to sleep.
bttt
I was expecting him to say 1/2 or 0.5 !
ML/NJ
Glad you liked the post
And the comments are just as good as the article.
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