Posted on 01/28/2015 8:32:37 PM PST by Bigtigermike
How is it possible that a president can win re-election by a relatively comfortable margin while receiving fewer raw votes than his first election? Enter Mitt Romney.
A simple data comparison is very telling. That comparison is the Romney raw vote vs. all votes for congressional Republicans in a given state. Crunching the numbers, Romney significantly underperformed the Republican congressional vote totals in multiple states.
In North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin -- all presidential swing states -- Mitt Romney underperformed the total raw votes cast for all Republican congressional candidates by an average of 3 percent. That means that in 2012, an average of 55,000 Republican voters in EACH of these key swing states voted for the Republican congressional candidate but not for Mitt Romney. Whether these voters voted for Obama or skipped the presidential ballot is more difficult to determine, but we know for certain that they voted for the Republican candidate for Congress but did not vote for Romney. That’s simply remarkable.
In American politics it’s a given that in a presidential year, the presidential ballot drives turnout. Again, Obama is the only president to win a second term with fewer votes than he received in his first election. In the aftermath of a presidential election cycle, we often analyze the undervote, which refers to voters who vote for president but skip much or all of the remaining ballot. In 2012 we saw the undervote in reverse, and there’s very little analysis of this phenomena because it almost never happens.
[....]
So, what do these three elections have in common? Michael Dukakis, Bob Dole and Mitt Romney, three nominees who form the coalition of the uninspired. All three not only failed to motivate swing voters, but actually depressed their own bases. Of course, we are now departing statistical..
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Bush / Clinton 2016!
Clinton / Bush 2020!
Uniparty Rules!
The base may be conservative, but there are RINOs who are needed to VOTE AGAINST the Democraps.
What I think was a big failure of vision was people here thought they were being so “principled” in not voting at all in 2008 and 2012, but in so doing, you’re furthering the democrats’ ability to win.
Just as the article said: In 2012, there were an average of 55,000 Repubs in EVERY State who voted Republican and did not vote for Romney. That’s 2,750,000 votes wasted!! Those non-votes allowed Bork Obunga to rule as a king and ruin this country for the past 6 years.
People may not like Romney, but I still maintain that the sheer damage that President Narcissus has been able to wreak on this country is mainly the fault of those who didn’t vote AGAINST Obama.
ANY RINO would have been better than Bork Obunga, the fascist punk. I think people are finally realizing their mistake in giving this hateful racist/fascist the keys the White House. Not sure what is so hard to understand about this.
Yes, I agree we need a conservative who can articulate conservative principles to a dumbed down electorate who has been brainwashed. A Reagan. So far, I don’t see anyone able to do that. Cruz isn’t really remarkable. Palin is woefully inarticulate. None of these people are at Reagan’s level. Ben Carson might be a good one, but I don’t know enough about all of his views.
Being conservative doesn’t mean that you have to be beholden to a party, let alone the GOP. A voter doesn’t owe their allegiance to no one and it’s a shame that you are actng like that
Your frustrations notwithstanding...
Since your post is a shot across the bow at any who deigned to not vote for Romney, I’m going to take it as a personal attack...one against my character essentially accusing me of being an 0bama supporter.
With the exception of Romney, I voted downticket R...all the way.
What, pray tell, has the HoR accomplished since they won a majority? What did the R Senators do in confirmation hearings?
And then we get news that RINOs Hatch and Graham are going to confirm Lynch...RINOs are doing a damned fine job of screwing us regardless of the “principled” voters not voting for that douche Romney.
Then in 2016, we hand the R’s majorities in both Houses and what are we getting? The middle finger, that’s what.
CONgre$$ has failed to exercise Checks and Balances...not the voters.
See tagline...
I agree conservative doesn’t mean we are beholden to a party (because parties morph themselves into things they were not originally intended to be). Consider how different the JFK strong-on-defense Democrats were and how rotten today’s democrats are in comparison. Ditto for Repubs of Goldwater/Reagan era vs. now.
But I don’t understand your statement:
“A voter doesn’t owe their allegiance to no one and it’s a shame that you are actng like that”
Not sure how you think I am acting like I owe allegiance to someone... ??? Plz explain.
Yes, I know it’s turns my stomach to see a communist like Lynch even considered for the AG. This video says it all (she should not be confirmed on the basis of this sentence alone!!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbjsvEjXLgo&feature=youtu.be
As for your taking my OBJECTIVE analysis of the 2008/2012 conservatives who opted out of voting AGAINST the Democrat as a personal attack, I’m sorry you decided to take that as a personal attack.
That’s your choice, but if you sit back and analyze it with an open mind, it’s clear that if those conservatives had taken a more realistic “lesser of two evils” approach, we at least wouldn’t have suffered thru this truly awful time. Indeed it wouldn’t be perfect had Romney won, but I just don’t buy the notion that Obama is better than Romney.
My position is that I’m perhaps more realistic about the bleak demographics in our country. It’s now getting to be impossible to elect a true conservative, so what is the point in me being obstinate and stamping my feet and insisting I will ONLY vote for perfect conservative candidates that realistically don’t stand a chance, given our stupid electorate.
We are now at the point where we MUST choose between the lesser of two evils because unless a Ronald Reagan shows up center stage (I’ve met him and spent 15 minutes in his office once) — we’re not going to get what we want.
So much damage has been done (brainwashed electorate) by the Obamunist fascists that it’s more likely that we have to incrementalize our way back to conservativism. Seems you guys perhaps naively expect that it can be done overnight and there are just too many biased, stupid voters now.
Just my opinion and no offense intended.
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