Turnout shaping up to be lower than 2008 (and 2004)

AP (Yahoo News) ^ | 11/7/12 | Josh Lederman

[RightGeek]

A drop in voter turnout in Tuesday's election didn't keep President Barack Obama from winning a second term in the White House.

Preliminary figures suggest fewer people voted this year than four years ago, when voters shattered turnout records as they elected Obama to his first term.

In most states, the numbers are shaping up to be even lower than in 2004, said Curtis Gans, the director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. Still, the full picture may not be known for weeks, because much of the counting takes place after Election Day.

"By and large, people didn't show up," Gans said.

In Texas, turnout for the presidential race dropped almost 11 percent from 2008. Vermont and South Carolina saw declines that were almost as large. The drop-off was more than 7 percent in Maryland, where voters approved a ballot measure allowing gay marriage.

With 95 percent of precincts reporting, The Associated Press figures showed more than 117 million people had voted in the White House race, but that number will go up as more votes are counted. In 2008, 131 million people voted, according to the Federal Election Commission.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “I cannot express how angry I am.” <<

.
You needn’t, nor would it be likely to help.

Too many won’t know they’re in this prison until they sleep-walk their heads into the bars and come-to on the floor.

[delapaz]

Wrong.

Romney lost the hard right wing vote. Guys like me. From our perspective there is no difference and it was worth more to discipline the GOP into nominating an actual conservative.

Now he may have lost the latte guys as well, as I doubt anyone not paying close attention could tell exactly what would change under a Romney administration as he “moved to the center”.

[DJ MacWoW]

Apparently there are only a few of us that understand we’ve been robbed by corruption. They want to swallow the MSM spin. I just don’t get it. FReepers know better.

[PMAS]

Then we will get the what we deserve.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Makes no sense.” <<

.
When you consider that there were enough in the military on over-seas assignment denied their right to vote to have turned this election, it makes perfect sense.

Welcome to the newest new normal.

Start learning Chinese!

[editor-surveyor]

>> “FReepers know better.” <<

.
Read my tagline. (adopted last spring)

[Pining_4_TX]

Tired of hearing about the WWII generation. They gave us LBJ’s great society and the AARP. No age group has a corner on virtue.

[snarkytart]

not only that but if you’re right of center why would you vote? even when you win on an issue (gay marriage or voter id laws, immigration reform) some court over turns it because they were appointed by a liberal or even a damn republican.

It’s almost like all the fight left our side after Obamacare was passed and upheld by OUR so called guy Roberts.

[DJ MacWoW]

I hear ya.

I wasn't going to vote for Romney. Then Benghazi happened. That woke me up. Dead Americans. At Obamas hands. And I watched some of the debates. Eye opening.

[Tunehead54]

“their” = “they’re” .Sorry.

I don’t know how we’ll ever tell who sat on their hands.

I do know many here at FR made clear their antipathy to poor Mitt’s faith. I suspect that antipathy was magnified on a national scale.

Historically, the turnout is only maybe 55% of registered voters. So which “conservatives” sat on their hands? Who cares? It doesn’t matter now. We’re toast.

All I know is we’re in for 4 more years of crap and the non-NBC resident has more “flexibility” with Putin, the ChiComs, the muslim brotherhood and any other anti-USA group you can find. ;-(

[9YearLurker]

Meanwhile, here’s an incredibly small-minded apologia from one of the geniuses at National Review:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332854/how-romney-lost-kevin-d-williamson

[snarkytart]

as apposed to Bush’s wonderful nominee Roberts?
See? Conservatives don’t see a difference anymore.

[McGruff]

Many Freepers have been telling this board for months that we were staying home if Romney was the nominee.

You sir are no Freeper. Even Jim compromised his principles to try and stop what will happen in the next 4 years. Barack Obama thanks you for your lack of support.

[snarkytart]

And how as socialism implemented over the decades when we’ve had so-called conservative presidents for many years along the way? Our so called representatives on the national level sell us out immediately. Locally is a different story. Thank GOD for our good conservative Governors and local state reps.

[joesbucks]

New voters voted for McCain? I thought the drifted in mass into Obamaland in 08.

[muawiyah]

There are always new voters ~ but don't focus on McCain, he didn't have many either, and Romney certainly didn't show any interest in that sort of thing.

I think he viewed elections as sort of like market competition where the winner takes over the maret and the loser just disappears. He had no sense that population dynamics are such that while dealing with 300 million people, you must also deal with subsets with divergent interests and behaviors. Obama has that failing as well.

I think this election showed the failing in a modern Harvard education ~ these guys are simply too structured to deal with humans.

[snarkytart]

yet Palin along with McCain lost more EV and more states than Romney and Ryan. And lost by a bigger margin in battleground states like FL, VA, and OH than Romney and Ryan.

I’m sure most of the extra votes Palin and McCain got came from already deep red states because they sure didn’t come from battleground states.

[delapaz]

JimRob has yet to delete/suspend my account. I make no bones of my position since January. So like it or not, I’m a FReeper. And I’m not the only non-Romney voter around here.

[muawiyah]

Conservatives showed up at this election in strength equal to their 2008 showing. Where were the Rockefeller Republicans, the Republican moderates, the GOP-e? I doubt they could show up ~ more important to tend to polishing the brass on the yacht or something ~ they gave at the office (to the corporate PAC) and others could take care of it from there.

Seriously, we never figured out the reason for the drop off in 2008, so it's not likely we'll figure out why the drop off stopped in 2012 ~ maybe desperate people clinging to a rotten log in a tossing sea? There are so many similes we could use for this one.

But this election showed no new additional drop off in the Republican vote ~ just the absence of any growth ~ and that's not due to an absence of any particular traditional Republican demographic ~ penicillin took care of that age old old age problem anyway.

[muawiyah]

Obama had 10 million more votes in 2008 and they weren’t all in California and New York (as so many claimed as they sought to argue that getting more new Republican voters wasn’t a problem).