Posted on 02/24/2016 9:04:42 AM PST by Signalman
Polls conducted before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary indicated that Republicans were more fired up than Democrats to vote this year. Looks like they've followed through--so far, at least.
It was the Democrats who benefitted from a wide "enthusiasm gap" over the GOP in the 2008 election cycle, with their voters turning out in droves to help propel Barack Obama to the presidency. But Republicans are seeing the historic surge this time around, with a record number of caucus goers in Iowa and a level of voter participation in New Hampshire that nearly matched the booming Democratic turnout there in '08.
GOP voting in the caucuses increased 57 percent from its level eight years ago, which is the last time both parties had a competitive primary. The 186,932 Iowa voters set a party record by more than 65,000. Additionally, the number of Republican votes in New Hampshire this year jumped 18 percent from its 2008 level.
Compare that with the Democratic results in those two states, where Republicans turned out more voters. It was a stretch for the party to match the nearly 240,000 caucus goers there in '08. The total declined enough, however--29 percent--to finish behind the GOP in overall voters. Additionally, Democratic turnout in New Hampshire fell 13 percent.
Some of the explanations for these changes are obvious: Democrats don't have Barack Obama to support, after all, and Republicans are motivated to make sure that Hillary Clinton doesn't continue his legacy. But political experts say more is at play. The GOP primary has been a media sensation, for example, and election season began with tight contests on both sides.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
I disagree with the headline.
I see little or no enthusiasm for Republicans here and even less for incumbent Republicans at the federal level. I see one hell of a lot of enthusiasm for non-establishment candidates. With Donald Trump at the head of most people’s list.
We have some HUGE votes coming up on Mar 1st, Mar 8th, and Mar 15th. I believe those three Super, and mini-super Tuesdays are going to pretty muich tell the tale as to whether Trump prevails and gets the delegates necewsssary for a clean win at the convention, or whther Cruz and Rubio keep him from it and force him to deal with one or the other of them to get over the top.
At this point, I think it most likely that Trump gets the delegates necessary.
Anyhow, here are the numbers and graphs, incorporating the actual totals from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and showing my plans for MArch:
I believe these numbers, in terms of raw voting, are setting records for the GOP. No one is talking much about it...but when compared to Democrat numbers, the actual raw vote so far is literally dwarfing what is coming ot to the democrats. I will have to do a study of that...but that is my general feel.
Trump will crush Hillary or Bernie.
For now.
Dims aren’t big fans of Hildabeast AND they expect her to win the nominations so ... why go out and vote in a Primary and CERTAINLY a Caucus?
however, when Nov rolls around, the Dims do have a tendency to show up. And once the Media turns on Trump (and they will) ...
We’ll see. I willagree, there is little precedent for any of this.
They took er Jerbs!! (grin)
All the democrats have are 2 old communists.
A lot of Democrats won’t vote in the primaries. They don’t care what Dem candidate wins. They’ll support any one of them. But we’re outnumbered folks. The people that want what you have will win.
Thanks Jeff. Your work is appreciated.
Joe Trippi, FNC’s pet Democrat, said last night on FNC’s regularly broadcast 24x365 [24x366 in leap years] Get-Trump Show that gigantic GOP primary turnout didn’t matter.
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