Numbers

[97stscaddy]

Looking over the election results tonight. I got to looking at the amount of votes cast for each candidate.
You can direct your attention here since that is where I got these numbers from.

In this election roughly 123.3 million votes were cast (including independent party candidates) . 64.9M for Barack Obama. 57.1M for John McCain.

In the 2004 Election: (You can obtain those results by clicking "2004" on the map I linked.) roughly 122 million votes were cast (also including independent party candidates). 62M for George W. Bush. 59M for John Kerry.

For comparison, In the 2000 election only 105 million votes were cast. The Owl and Dubya were separated by just 450,000 votes. Both had roughly 50 million votes cast.

Now I'll let you draw your own conclusions from this information. Just thought some of you may find this interesting.

 

[shagdrum]

This report is rather illuminating...

A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout​

It also should be noted that this was the first election in history in which the youth vote was greater then the older vote. This wasn't so much due to a huge increase in the youth vote as it was due to a large decrease in the older vote.

 

[04SCTLS]

Obama has been the "fortunate" one with unfolding events playing to his advantage.
The "Force" is with him.
He seems to run a tight ship and surround himself with bright compitent people.
Evangelical Huckabee in a gift from God torpedoed Romney and allowed the hapless McCain to win the republican nomination.
McCain's pick of Palin added a lot of energy to his campaign but ultimately turned off more people than it excited.
If some republicans were less than thrilled with McCain/Palin and thus didn't vote, then that is part of Obama's fortune too.
Politicians always say idealistic things to get elected then change their tune once faced with the realities of governing.
Some of us here are being very melodramatic with an apoclyptic scenario writing off Obama before he's even had a chance to do anything.
The first 100 days after his inauguration will set the tone for his administration.

 

[Calabrio]

McCain's pick of Palin added a lot of energy to his campaign but ultimately turned off more people than it excited.

You say that, but had he NOT picked someone like Palin, that results would have been MUCH worse. He'd have had virtually no ground support, no fundraising boast, and zero enthusiasm.

Republican turn out would have been even lower.

The first 100 days after his inauguration will set the tone for his administration.

We're cursed to live in interesting times, no doubt.

 

[shagdrum]

McCain's pick of Palin added a lot of energy to his campaign but ultimately turned off more people than it excited.

Actually, the exact opposite is true. If Palin had not been picked, the votes for McCain would have been even less. The only republican's who were "turned off" by Palin were the RINO's/moderates/country club republicans. The core of the republican party, the conservatives, were, and are very approving of Palin.

But, people don't vote for a VP pick, they vote for the presidential nominee. Those who say they voted for Obama because of McCain's pick of Palin are either ignorant and easily swayed or being dishonest. Any critique of Palin that is substantive can be made twice as strong against Obama. Citing her "inexperience" is a joke as she has more experience then Obama, McCain or Biden when it comes to executive experience. Claims about her lacking "knowledge" are weak, disengenuous and irrelevant. There are also all the exaguration, misrepresentations and outright lies about her, her actions and her views.

 

[Titan]

Well, as a middle of the road independent I could find little to recommend either candidate. McCain's only edge over Obama,for me, was he wasn't as far to the left and we had a better idea of what he might do, which wasn't to encouraging in my opinon.

My wife (who is African American) voted for the first time in years for Obama as did several of her family, who also don't usually vote. None of them are political and only voted for him for the obvious reason.

From everything I saw McCain ran a sorry campaign and ignored the conservative wing of the GOP, almost like his heart wasn't really in it.

 

[04SCTLS]

I wasn't refering to the republicans not liking her but the general voters who felt she wasn't ready to be VP.

She's an intelligent highly ambitious politician.

Now that fate has brought her fame and celebrity and thrust her into national politics at 44 she has plenty of time to fill in gaps in her knowledge to make herself a more informed viable candidate on a wide range of issues
if she wants to be taken seriously by more voters.

 

[MikeG]

My wife (who is African American) voted for the first time in years for Obama as did several of her family, who also don't usually vote. None of them are political and only voted for him for the obvious reason.

This is why there should be a series of questions pertaining to the candidate views on the issues before anyone is allowed to vote. Voting for someone just for their race is the reason many people should not be allowed to vote.

 

[Calabrio]

This is why there should be a series of questions pertaining to the candidate views on the issues before anyone is allowed to vote. Voting for someone just for their race is the reason many people should not be allowed to vote.

That'd be considered unconstitutional.
That'd be considered like old Jim Crowe laws.

However, I do think it's absurd that we invest so much time and money into making it easier for disinterested people to vote. A democracy isn't about "voting" - it's about being involved and educating ourselves so that we can make the educated vote.

It's a responsibility not just a privileged.

 

[MikeG]

Ok, so you just said it better....