Yeah, older voters stayed home. Gee, I wonder why?
Posted on 07/20/2009 1:43:08 PM PDT by Steelfish
Voting rate dips as older whites stay home
About 63.6 percent of the nation's eligible voters cast ballots in November
WASHINGTON - For all the attention generated by Barack Obama's candidacy, the share of eligible voters who actually cast ballots in November declined for the first time in a dozen years.
The reason: Older whites with little interest in backing either Barack Obama or John McCain stayed home.
Census figures released Monday show about 63.6 percent of the nation's eligible voters, or 131.1 million people, voted last November.
Although that represented an increase of 5 million voters — virtually all of them minorities — the turnout relative to the population of eligible voters was a decrease from 63.8 percent in 2004.
Ohio and Pennsylvania were among those showing declines in white voters, helping Obama carry those battleground states.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
McCain couldn’t even pull in his own demographic!
Yeah, older voters stayed home. Gee, I wonder why?
Some people couldn’t stomach voting for the most open border politician in the republican party.
If you want to blame something, how about a primary process that lets non-republicans decide the victor in many states.
(I haven’t heard anything is being done to fix this for next time)
And what was south carolina thinking anyway
Vans in those states were sent out to pick up ACORNS instead.
John McCain was running against oil company profits. What did a conservative have to vote for?
If it had not been for Palin, I would not have voted. I come down here:
“America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.” — opening lines of 101 Things To Do ‘Til The Revolution by Claire Wolfe
Voting is attempting to work within the system.
That’s it, Acorn was probably driving them around polling booths in OH all day instead!
So all of you Republicans who wouldn’t vote for McCain because he was not conservative enough essentially voted for Obama. Look, we all felt the same way, but in elections sometimes it has to be the lesser of two evils. And NOT voting has consequences. Don’t let anyone ever convince you not to vote again.
You said — McCain couldn’t even pull in his own demographic!
—
Of course, I voted for Palin, but so did everyone else in Oklahoma, it seems... (the largest percentage of voters for Palin in the U.S. of any state). And, Oklahoma is the only state in which every single county in the state went for Palin, even the big metro areas... wow!
exactly. open primaries and liberal candidates are the problem. You can’t blame non-voters who had nothing to vote for.
As far as I’m concerned, those who stayed home are now reaping what they sowed. And the rest of us get to suffer right along with them.
If you didn’t vote for McCain in November as the lesser of two bad choices, just shut up or get busy trying to flip Congress next year. You have forfeited the right to gripe about our current situation, because you helped cause it.
Don’t blame the voters, that’s how democrat think. McCain didn’t inspire voters, nobody in the GOP primaries was terribly inspiring really. If you want to win elections you need good candidates, if you can’t scrape up good candidates you shouldn’t be shocked at voter yawns.
I’m not on the one hand, going to be held responsible for McCain, and on the other hand, blamed for Obama.
The Republicans had a party, and it turns out that I wasn’t invited.
Now people are getting the government they deserve, and nothing less.
Sometimes it’s darkest right before the dawn.
Better to expose the commies for what they are now, and let America decide in 2010 and 2012.
McCain had it in the bag—once he had Palin to motivate the base—if only he hadn’t gone loopy about TARP!
Oh well, our best hope now is that Obama and Obamacare serve as a big 20-year inoculation against even dreamy, uninformed leftist voting in the electorate.
It made no difference. Northern older whites vote for Democrats. The dying minions of Roosevelt and the legacy of their dear social security “entitlements”.
They didn’t have a conservative to vote for.
I almost stayed home myself. (And would have, but for Palin.)
I voted for McCain, but ONLY because of Sarah.
Wasn’t overly THRILLED with her though because felt like she was ONLY brought in at the last minute to try to attract the female vote. While I liked HER much more than McCain (whom I loathed), I felt that was a very sexist and condescending move by him or his handlers or whoever it is who makes those types of decisions in the “smoke-filled back rooms.” It smelled of desperation. You KNOW she would have been “muzzled and locked in the attic” once McCain took office if he had won.
The Republican party differs only slightly from the Dem these days and a RINO like McCain would NOT have his VP feeling powerful and getting “all uppity.”
We need another Reagan, but I don’t think Sarah is “the one.” I don’t think SHE was ready for the attention, popularity and ATTACKS she was hit with!
Whatever. That’s an excuse for the Republicans to serve us yet another Democrat-lite.
It’s important to remind older Americans:
Obamacare = Euthanasia for Baby Boomers
Unfortunately, if McCain had won both Ohio and Pennsylvania, he still would have lost the election.
Furthermore, even if you were to assume that every older white voter that stayed home, would have voted for McCain (which would be a horrible assumption) Obama still would have won OH and PA and won the election.
Now, isn’t that a damn shame.
So white seniors and Evangelicals suck since as one poster said we must now all pay the heavy price of this stupidity and this is just the beginning. Who knows 0 may be there for 8 years and by which time it won’t be the US of A anymore. The Barbarians at the gate have broken through and occupied the “shining city on the hill”
Sounds like the same complaint the democrats had in some places... Are we completely FUBAR yet or just getting closer? /just a little sarc
Chalk one up for the left.
They’re winning, if you haven’t figured that one out.
When whites stay home the left holds up their champagne glasses.
Women want a sugar-daddy to keep them, it’s hard-wired.
There is no bigger perceived sugar-daddy than the government.
The bigger government gets the more it screws with the natural order of things and serves as a pseudo-husband to single females.
It is no accident that men are hurting most in this economy, but a symptom of the sickness that is collectivism.
Men are at the bottom of the leftists priority list, especially the white ones.
This is but one more sickness of many we are in store for, folks.
So, white dudes die in the middle east, lose their jobs at home, and don’t vote when they get older—IT’S FRICKIN’ PERFECT!
Yeah I’m with you. In the summer of 07 I looked at the candidate list for both parties and said “man this is gonna suck”. I was looking at the candidates up until 5 minutes before polls closed for our primaries and just couldn’t come up with a compelling reason to vote for any of them. Then McCain won, I swore off of voting for McCain for Senate when he became Mr. Anti-1st Amendment, and if he ain’t good enough for Senate then President is right out. Of course there’s no way I was going to vote for an unrepentant socialist, contemplated the 3rd parties but they all let me down with lame nominations too. I voted in the rest of the election but left pres blank. Didn’t even watch the results, watched Bugsy instead. Hopefully the GOP will come up with somebody worth a damn in 2012, Obama is setting himself up to be infinitely beatable if we don’t go all John Kerry.
Which large financial concern is the manager of the congressional pensions? AIG
If you want to blame something, how about a primary process that lets non-republicans decide the victor in many states.
(I haven’t heard anything is being done to fix this for next time)
And what was south carolina thinking anyway
You mean let all the voters decide, the republicans will never go for that.
Obama beat McCain by Ten Million Votes and bested him in the Electoral College by margin of 2:1.
Therefore, the election was not lost because a few older white voters stayed home.
Sometimes? In my view, it's always. Probably 90% of the people voting Republican have major differences on major issues with the GOP candidate running. But they vote for him anyway - because the other guy is worse. It makes no sense letting Stalin get into power because the GOP guy disagrees with you on some issues. Half a loaf is better than none. (I happen to think McCain is a great guy personally, but disagree with him on everything from amnesty and torture to the bailout).
Republicans cannot win without this demographic. Period.
BS, you are advocating the same type of election they have in IRAN, one person on the ticket. I say again BS, I will never vote the lessor of two evils. You can take you forced voting and shove it where the sun don't shine.
I just got back from a weekend in Prospect, Oregon which is near Crater Lake. We stayed in an historic hotel. At dinner last night there was an older couple in the dining room talking and I heard every word.
He called Jimmy Carter Mr Peanut, said we’re going to have 20%+ interest again, hates Obama, said Sarah isn’t liked by many republicans because she won’t put up with the corruption. He went on and on...he coulda been a Freeper for the way he sounded. I never heard McCain mentioned once and this guy was at least in McCain’s age bracket.
This next election is gonna be a real hum-dinger - that is if zero hasn’t somehow made elections illegal by then.
I punted and wrote in Thompson.
No wonder 0 wants to let the old folks die.
Three demographics won Ohio for the Dim's:
ACORN/Blacks
Union Blue Collar
Yewts
And, to put the icing on the cake, the illegals and absentee fraud was accomodated by Janet Brunner (soon to be Governor Brunner)
We had a choice... not the best choice .... but a lot better than what we ended up with. Far as I’m concerned non-voters are in the same category as Obama voters - except maybe worse.
RINOs gave away the 2008 races, just as they gave away the 2006 races.
Outsourcing is a vote loser. Both parties are guilty, but the GOP gets the blame.
Open borders is a vote loser. Both parties are guilty, but the GOP gets the blame.
Foreign workers on work visas are vote losers. Both parties are guilty, but the GOP gets the blame.
Here is the RINO platform: "Democrats will ruin the economy. We will do the same, but a few of us will get filthy rich in the process." That would be McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Guliani, and any other RINO candidate acceptable to the treasonous Noonan-type crowd.
Sarah Palin is speaking out against outsourcing our jobs. Sarah is advocating American production, American energy, American workers, and American-made products. Of course, the RINOs will scream louder, even here on Free Republic.
Good. Pick a side.
All the older whites I know in PA were behind Obama. They’d never vote Republican. I wonder if most of these ‘older whites’ were still amongst the living?
Exactly my point. Say what you will about McCain, can any of you McCain haters honestly say that America would have been worse off on July 20, 2009 than we are today if McCain were President? Would we have a runaway Congress running amuk? Would we have a leader bowing down to Saudi kings and shaking hands with evil dictators all the while smacking Israel in the face? Would we be facing this monstrosity of a health care nightmare? Would the House have passed Cap and Tax? I think you know the answer.
You holier than thou conservatives refusing to vote for anything less than your perfect candidate may have (not necessarily did) put us in this boat. Voting has consequences but so does NOT voting and you have to accept the consequences of your choices. We are here PERHAPS because of those who stayed home.
I hear the food banks are about to give away a bunch.
Being that the GOP Primaries were finished long before the Democratic Primaries, it is doubtful that many Democrats voted in the GOP Primaries. However, if you recall, there was a movement lead by Rush Limbaugh called "Operation Chaos" where he encouraged Republicans to vote for Hillary in open Democratic primaries.
And we all know how well Mr. Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" scheme worked.
I'll go you one better, don't let anyone convince you to vote for Liberal Lite just because he/she has an "R" after his or her name.
And this argument about not voting or voting for third party elects Democrats crap has got to stop.
Here's a novel idea, actually run Candidates people want to vote for rather than going with the RINO mantra of "vote for the lesser of two evils" so Democrats won't get elected.
I know its a radical concept but hey maybe its time for such.
Thompson’s name used to be on McCain-Feingold, since that’s the reason I’ve walked away from McCain I couldn’t do it. I’ll admit he’s clean on other reasons to not like McCain, but I couldn’t do it.
Yep, and they helped elect Democrats that are literally destroying our nation in front of our eyes...something illegals could not have done in a hundred years.
I wonder if they still feel it was worth it? Was throwing the economy away, allowing the Dems to take over our financial system, change the way we generate and distribute power, abandoning Israel really, really worth it? How about embryonic stem cell research, federally funded abortions, global humiliation?
Nothing John McCain and all the RINOs in America would ever have done approaches what Pelosi, Reed, and Obama are doing right now.
This nation and a lot of "conservatives" got what they deserved..unfortunately, I got it too. The worst part is that we can't change it even with the chest beating going on here..elections have consequences.
Understand completely. He was the closest guy running to being a conservative that I could surmise. Again, a punt.
Asked to identify their reasons for not voting, 46 percent of all whites said they didn't like the candidates, weren't interested or had better things to do, up from 41 percent in 2004. Hispanics had similar numbers for both years.
Many of us here have known this for some time, even before the November vote, we felt this would be the case. We debated which would be worse: McCain with Dem Congress, or Obama with a Dem Congress, with Obama's presidency spurring the Republicans to a big comeback in 2010?
We are now in the very weeks when that question will be answered. We need to push Congress to defeat Obama's legislative excesses, and identify the Republican candidates who can bring about victories in 2010 and 2012. And we need to throw it back in the faces of McCain, Powell, and RINOs and moderates everywhere who do nothing but demoralize Republican voters with their habit of pandering and sucking up to every interest group they can find to pander to and suck up to. They, including Bush and Rove, are who caused the losses in 2006 and 2008.
The same conservative, Republican message for everyone potential voter.
I wrote in Hunter. McCain carried my state, so it didn’t matter anyway. But, if it ever comes down to my individual vote? Maybe the GOP better earn it. I’m done with the candidates getting more and more Democrat with every election cycle. I held my nose and voted for Bush and that’s the last time.
Everyone who did anything at all to make Juan McCain our nominee caused the loss of 2010. You can blather all you like about how people simply must vote for a pathetic Republican nominee, but many will not do it.
Better to work to produce a much better nominee next time, because you will not change peoples ways in this, as several elections have shown.
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