The Truth Behind Election Night

Here's my random YouTube clip of the blog.  It's provided by The Walking Dead.  Apparently Morgan was a prophet:

I See Red

So Tuesday night was a great victory for those who are all about the Republican cause, the GOP cause, the Tea Party cause, or the anti-Obama cause.  The Republicans took the Senate and now controls Congress.  Also, you saw many Republicans win Governor races.  Many political pundits will exclaim that this was the rejection of liberal policies and a rejection of the President and Obamacare and his handling of different issues.  (Another YouTube clip for you: Do You Hear the People Sing?).  I think that’s part of it, but there’s a much bigger issue at hand.

What Do the Numbers Say?

According to an article by NBC News, when Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012, 25% of voters were 60 and older while 19% were under 30 years old.  Of that 19% of young voters, 11% went to President Obama and 8% went to Mitt Romney.  The president won by 3.9%, which was close to 5 million votes.

If you look at the numbers from Tuesday night, 37% of voters were over the age of 60 but only 12% of voters were under the age of 30 years old.

So what would have happened if the young people who showed up at the poll in 2012 showed up Tuesday night?

What Do The Numbers Really Tell Us?

If you recall, when Barack Obama won in both 2008 and 2012, a big reason for that was because he energized minorities and young people to vote.  They did that in large amounts and that was the determining factor in him winning.  

What we’re seeing in the numbers is that a large part of the Democrats base, young people and minorities, aren’t voting in midterm elections but do come out for Presidential elections.  Remember in 2010 when the Republicans took the House?  We had this same conversation about it being a rejection of Obama and the handling of Obamacare.  Who won the election in 2012 though?  President Obama.

What Is The Bigger Truth?

I think what this tells us is that the base of the Democrats, young people and minorities, aren’t being sold on where real government happens.  Real decisions are made at a local state level with state Governors and state legislatures.  Also, Democrats aren’t teaching their base about the whole concept of how checks and balances work.  The only reason that Obamacare passed was because the Democrats had a majority in both sides of Congress and could pass that legislation.  That can’t happen anymore with a Republican Congress.  Real legislation happens in Congress, not in the Oval Office

How Do You Fix It?

I think part of it is getting away from the celebrity status of the office of the President.  The President can make all the promises he wants be he needs Congress and local state governments to move his agenda along.  The President does not create laws.  The closest he gets is executive orders which he does a lot of but can only go so far.  You need to help the people with the most power understand how the world works and how their voice truly does make a difference.  It doesn't help to vote in a Democratic president when everyone else around him isn't.

Putting It All Together

I typically vote Republican so not I'm suggesting that the Democrats figure this problem out for their own benefit.  I'm just cautious of people suggesting that this is a large scale mutiny of the President and this will lead to big wins in 2016.  The GOP still has a large problem with young people and minorities so they need to figure that out in the next two years or history will be repeating itself.  But, it was still fun Tuesday night watching the power shift back.

Until next time.........Happy Budget, Happy Life

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