Elections Republicans Have Won Popular Vote Once Since 1988 : Update Lost Again

[Clifford_Harris]

Bill Clinton also never won a majority of the popular vote, but still got 2 terms.

Sucks for the dems that extra winning shithole California doesn't override losing in 30 states.

California is more a benefit to Dems under the electoral college than it is based on Popular vote.

 

[sickc0d3r]

Has a lot to do with the changing demographics of this country and the Republicans failure to broaden their base.

Dems are complete shit in many areas, however when it comes to marketing and appeal, the GOP is abjectly terrible

I’d argue the opposite. Nobody likes their actual policies, but they manage to market themselves well enough to stay in the game. Yes, they could try to appeal to certain groups with messaging, but then they’d lose a lot of their base. They really just need to focus more on policy. Like, imagine if they drove strong to the net on health care the last 4 years. They could have sold almost anything on an issue most people care about but they didn’t even try. This is where they lose people. They don’t even try to govern.

 

[bigkick]

Scrap the electoral college and go back to colonial times? It's funny that nobody minds the electoral college when democrats get elected.

Bullshit. People have been objecting to it since it’s creation. I believe it was Madison who voiced the most objections to it. Read a little history and you might learn something. It was a compromise solution to get around some issue connected to slavery. It was bullshit then and remains so today. We should elect our gov’t reps by popular vote. 1 person 1 vote is not a terribly radical idea.

 

[James Bomb]

The only snow balls chance in hell Trump has of getting re election is sneaking through the electoral college, he is going to lose the popular by even more than 2016.

What will I l do if the electoral college allows him to sneak in for a 2nd term? Lose what tiny bit of faith I still had left in my fellow Americans and hope maybe one day we scrap that out of date electoral college nonsense.

Trump is doing what his sponsors wanted him to do:

1. Weaken faith in democratic institutions (voting/elections, freedom of the press, civil service, firing inspectors general without cause, corrupting the DoJ and weakening the FBI)
2. Radicalizing uneducated rural voters and disenfranchising young people and minorities
3. Packing the Federal courts full of henchmen

Role playing as the immoral leadership of a soon-to-be minority party, it makes sense as a strategy, even though it hurts the country immensely.

 

[Striderxdj]

Scrap the electoral college and go back to colonial times? It's funny that nobody minds the electoral college when democrats get elected.

Lol, maybe its because when dem presidents win the electoral college they also win the popular vote, that might help their case.

If the situation was reversed and Republicans actually had the appeal of the populace (they dont), they would be fighting tooth and nail to end the EC because unlike the Dems when the right wants something, they all have a hiveminded tunnel vision focus and will stop at nothing to get what they want, no matter how detrimental the pathway to getting it might be.

 

[PRESIDENT TRUMP]

Please god let Biden win the presidency, amen.

 

[Oceanmachine]

In 32 years the Republican candidate for President of the United States has one the popular vote a grand total of one time. Trump won the Presidency while losing the popular vote in 2016 to Hillary Clinton by almost 3 million votes. Right now in 2020 none of Trump's political advisors will go on record to say he will win the popular vote against Joe Biden. Noted election experts such as Nate Silver and G. Elliott Morris state that their election models give Trump little to no chance of winning the popular vote in the upcoming election.

Question how did the Republican party get to this point where they either outright lose the Presidential election or having to play every trick in the book simply just to sneak into the Presidency via the electoral college? How did the Republican party go from winning Presidential elections in landslides like in 72, 80, 84 and 88 to this sorry state where they win the popular vote once in 32 years(36 after this )November?

Bill Clinton also never won a majority of the popular vote, but still got 2 terms.

Sucks for the dems that extra winning shithole California doesn't override losing in 30 states.

Yes we have a flawed system. We need more parties and should have 2 rounds, like Canada does I believe or many other European countries.

Basically it's shifting demographics.
It's a dying party. They can't win with a Real Republican on the ticket which is why they had to bring in an Independent outsider.

But the DNC is dying too with all their childish squabbling with the RNC and crazy extreme stances.
Only a matter of time before the Independents take over.

I think Trump is the best thing that happened to them. Hillary was a better candidate than Biden, all around, people got tired of Obama for 8 years I guess, but Ted Cruz or Kasich etc were not the ones to beat Clinton. They dont excite people, while Cruz is far rightish like Trump he isnt Trump.

Win or lose Trump is responsible for republicans winning in 2016, I dont think any other Republican could of done it and he increased their Senate majority to 53 seats, even if he losses its unlikely they go below 51 seats and they have an okay map again in 2022, and 2024 Senate map is well positioned for Republicans.

I’d argue the opposite. Nobody likes their actual policies, but they manage to market themselves well enough to stay in the game. Yes, they could try to appeal to certain groups with messaging, but then they’d lose a lot of their base. They really just need to focus more on policy. Like, imagine if they drove strong to the net on health care the last 4 years. They could have sold almost anything on an issue most people care about but they didn’t even try. This is where they lose people. They don’t even try to govern.

There base by and large does not care for their economic policies. They vote Republican for cultural and race reasons along with maybe slight economics of lower taxes for the upper class. Republicans as a whole are a wealthy group compared to the Democrat masses. Also consider a lot of republicans in deep red midwest states own or inherit generational homes, have low debts, and farmers are given government subsidies. As noted before a lot of the GOP does benefit slightly from taking away handouts to inner city people not to mention a huge % of people making over 200k a year are Republicans along with a lot of business owners.

 

[panamaican]

Couple of things. Start with the Southern Strategy which encouraged racist Dems to join the GOP. That takes place in the late 60s/eary 70s. It was a strategy that was viable when the nation was statistically more white.

Over the subsequent decades, 2 big changes occurred. First, more college education. Greater education usually leads to less acceptance of racist stereotypes. So as the nation became more educated, a greater proportion of those voters rejected the dog whistle elements that the GOP had adopted in the prior decades. Second, the nation itself became more diverse. Minority voters are also more likely to reject the dog whistle elements from the prior generation's GOP.

This means a shrinking share of the voter population that would naturally align with elements of the GOP.

The more fascinating element is that despite this known change, the GOP has managed to keep as much control as it has over the decades. And that speaks to the efficacy of the Southern Strategy. It might have been objectionable but it solidified a reliable block of votes in many smaller states and rural areas.

Factor in how electoral college votes work and the concentration of Dems in big cities and the GOP remains a valid party, even if they don't represent the most popular party. Many won't see it this way but it's a triumph of our political system that the least popular party doesn't get steamrolled by the most popular.

 

[HankScorpio]

Just goes to show how utterly pathetic and neutered the dems are. Fucking disgrace to politics and voters that they cannot parlay their popularity into any actual policy.

Spot on. /Thread.

 

[nostradumbass]

California is more a benefit to Dems under the electoral college than it is based on Popular vote.

Clearly not. They do have more electoral votes than they should because illegals are counted when drawing districts, but the spread in "popular vote" is much bigger in CA than it is nationally, so republicans benefit more from appealing to the majority of states rather than to try for a slightly closer contest in a democrat super majority state.

I don't know that democrats have ever won even 1/3 of counties. Obama in 2012 won a record low of less than 1/4 of counties. Elections have essentially been urban voters vs rural and exurban voters.

 

[bigkick]

Factor in how electoral college votes work and the concentration of Dems in big cities and the GOP remains a valid party, even if they don't represent the most popular party. Many won't see it this way but it's a triumph of our political system that the least popular party doesn't get steamrolled by the most popular.

Interesting post. Was just reading an opinion piece and was struck by this bit, which uses the same info to draw a very different conclusion:

"As Democrat-friendly urban areas continue to grow, low-population conservative states in the Midwest and Mountain West have gained electoral strength that far exceeds their numbers. As per one estimate, if this trend continues, by 2040 roughly 30 percent of the population will control nearly 70 Senate seats and a disproportionate chunk of the Electoral College. With many Republican state legislatures openly pursuing an agenda of gerrymandering and voter suppression, the enormous power reserved to small states will be disproportionately wielded by the old, the white and the Republican."

full article here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/opinion/washington-dc-state.html

 

[My Spot]

A shame the popular vote doesn’t matter.

 

[ElKarlo]

Wait didn't Bush beat Kerry in 04 by a few million votes?

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Hence the absolute need for the electoral college and gerrymandering. It’s all they have. What are they going to do? Secede? Hahahahaha Hahahaha

 

[blaseblah]

In 32 years the Republican candidate for President of the United States has one the popular vote a grand total of one time. Trump won the Presidency while losing the popular vote in 2016 to Hillary Clinton by almost 3 million votes. Right now in 2020 none of Trump's political advisors will go on record to say he will win the popular vote against Joe Biden. Noted election experts such as Nate Silver and G. Elliott Morris state that their election models give Trump little to no chance of winning the popular vote in the upcoming election.

Question how did the Republican party get to this point where they either outright lose the Presidential election or having to play every trick in the book simply just to sneak into the Presidency via the electoral college? How did the Republican party go from winning Presidential elections in landslides like in 72, 80, 84 and 88 to this sorry state where they win the popular vote once in 32 years(36 after this )November?

Their policies aren't popular. It would be better for the country if the electoral college more closely reflected the populace, since it means they would have to pivot from highly unpopular stuff like tax cuts for the wealthy and being anti-environment.

If the Dems could pull it together and stop electing terrible candidates they could force the Republican party to change their policies.

 

[HydraCap3]

If you are american and care for america then vote for america and lets get Biden as our 50 something president. Lets go! And yes Republicans always cheat and only get to win by the electoral votes.

Umm winning by electoral votes isn't cheating. it's actually how you're supposed to win.

 

[HydraCap3]

Hence the absolute need for the electoral college and gerrymandering. It’s all they have. What are they going to do? Secede? Hahahahaha Hahahaha

you know the GOP didn't create the electoral college right?!

 

[DeJulez]

Scrap the electoral college and go back to colonial times? It's funny that nobody minds the electoral college when democrats get elected.

It should be a popular vote. Who ever gets the most votes wins. No states nothing. You just vote and most votes win.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

you know the GOP didn't create the electoral college right?!

I’m not saying they did. I am saying they need it now to be relevant.

 

[HydraCap3]

I’m not saying they did. I am saying they need it now to be relevant.

Do you want to live under a liberal totalitarian system? I mean, if you do, move to California. Otherwise, acknowledge the fact that the Electoral College prevents this from happening. You're also callously dismissive of people who reside in red states and diminish their relevance as well. Do they not matter anymore? Are they also irrelevant? This is what the electoral college is design to do. It makes sure that all Americans remain relevant and you don't get to just cast them aside because you have a bigger angry mob.

liberals always think every vote should count, until it comes to protecting the voters in small states, who they deem unnecessary or necessary evils. The Electoral College ensures that all Americans matter at election time. It's unfortunate that liberals don't actually believe this and would prefer a system where only a handful of states select the President, because while liberals might win the popular vote, they almost always win the fewest amount of total states. How is that not seen as a problem? The electoral college prevents the tyranny of a minority, in this case liberal states, over the majority, republican states.