Some truth there, but after we realize that Cali and NY were far different places back in '84, and by "different places" I mean not so staunchly Dem, Trump really did destroy. A landslide, one might say:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2016/countymaprb1024.png
Some truth there, but after we realize that Cali and NY were far different places back in '84, and by "different places" I mean not so staunchly Dem, Trump really did destroy. A landslide, one might say:
Trump got 2MM more votes than Romney (in a year when turnout was slightly higher and voting age eligible population was also slightly higher). In a nation of 250MM+ voting eligible people, that's a really small difference with probably a range of factors all of which are themselves even smaller.
What if there are 100,000 anti-Mormons in America. 100,000 people that blame private equity for their unemployment? 100,000 black people that voted for Obama because he was black but really couldn't care less between Dems or GOP. 100,000 people that think undocumented Central American migration lowered their property values or employment opportunities. 100,000 people that just loved Trump's reality TV shows. 100,000 people that are still offended by Hillary Clinton mocking them for baking cookies for their children. I mean, some of these things are probably true and some of them aren't and they are probably all dwarfed by the number of people that just think Hillary is a crooked liar. My point though is that from election to election, the actual vote changes are super modest and given the large number of evolving factors and explanations, American political preferences have been remarkably stable and immune to changes in the actual candidates. I reiterate my position that the only fundamental change in 40+ years is the Reagan/Thatcher realignment.
Sure but we're not talking about 100k votes here, we're talking about 6M. If Cali and NY weren't so politically polluted, Trump would have owned the popular vote too, and by a lot.
I mean, it's why we shouldn't expect GOP winning the popular vote again in our lifetime. Lucky for us, it may be a disadvantage but it also doesn't matter all that much.
Some truth there, but after we realize that Cali and NY were far different places back in '84, and by "different places" I mean not so staunchly Dem, Trump really did destroy. A landslide, one might say:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2016/countymaprb1024.png
Trump got 2MM more votes than Romney (in a year when turnout was slightly higher and voting age eligible population was also slightly higher). In a nation of 250MM+ voting eligible people, that's a really small difference with probably a range of factors all of which are themselves even smaller.
What if there are 100,000 anti-Mormons in America. 100,000 people that blame private equity for their unemployment? 100,000 black people that voted for Obama because he was black but really couldn't care less between Dems or GOP. 100,000 people that think undocumented Central American migration lowered their property values or employment opportunities. 100,000 people that just loved Trump's reality TV shows. 100,000 people that are still offended by Hillary Clinton mocking them for baking cookies for their children. I mean, some of these things are probably true and some of them aren't and they are probably all dwarfed by the number of people that just think Hillary is a crooked liar. My point though is that from election to election, the actual vote changes are super modest and given the large number of evolving factors and explanations, American political preferences have been remarkably stable and immune to changes in the actual candidates. I reiterate my position that the only fundamental change in 40+ years is the Reagan/Thatcher realignment.
Sure but we're not talking about 100k votes here, we're talking about 6M. If Cali and NY weren't so politically polluted, Trump would have owned the popular vote too, and by a lot.
I mean, it's why we shouldn't expect GOP winning the popular vote again in our lifetime. Lucky for us, it may be a disadvantage but it also doesn't matter all that much.