Obama second only to Reagan in popular-vote share of the total American populace
November 29th, 2008 at 11:06am Pat Cunningham
 
The inimitable Nate Silver has some INTERESTING STATS regarding this year’s presidential election compared to those of the past.
POSTSCRIPT: It seems counterintuitive, but the Democratic candidates have won the popular vote in four of the last five presidential elections.
POSTSCRIPT II: Another fascinating stat from this year’s election: In congressional races, 14 out of 16 hard-line, anti-immigration Republicans lost their seats to pro-comprehensive-reform Democrats. See HERE.
POSTSCRIPT III: The percentage of Americans who are confident in Obama’s ability to be a good president substantially exceeds his share of the vote in the election, as we see HERE.
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19 Comments Add your own
1. Ted | November 29th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
On Dec 5 the Supreme Court will either allow or disallow the usurpation of both the Constitution and the Government of the United States — easily the most pivotal decision since our nation’s founding — and the silence of the news media is deafening (if not downright scary).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqH7rSHcvgU
2. Mr. Baseball | November 29th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
“the most pivotal decision since our nation’s founding”? Either you’re saying this tougue-in-check or you need help.
3. Mr. Baseball | November 29th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
…tongue-in-check…sorry for the typo.
4. Pat Cunningham | November 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Yeah, Ted’s a little overwrought, isn’t he? I hestitate to ask just which nutty conspiracy theory he’s referencing with this hysteria over “the usurpation of both the Constitution and the Government of the United States.” I’m sure he’ll tell us — that is, if he has time what with all his militia preparations and stuff.
5. Steve | November 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Nice Pat, you finally learned to use some form of evidence, even though it is from another Blogger and not the tons of public data out there. At least you are trying to put some effort into this now. It is too bad that there are close to 70 million more people in America now than there were in 1984, and I know it makes you cringe that the person beating your beloved is Reagan. Not to mention the fact that Obama only won the popular vote by 52%, so there were almost as many people who voted for McCain. Keep up the good work.
6. Pat Cunningham | November 29th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Steve: Your comment is stupid on several levels. 1) The data the other bloggger uses is, in fact, public data. (What? Did you think he made it up?) 2) The fact that the population is larger today than it was 24 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with the point made here about the percentage of the overall population represented by the popular-vote tallies for Reagan and Obama in their respective elections. (You weren’t a math major, were you?) 3) The stuff about cringing over Reagan’s numbers is just silly and pointless. 4) Your claim that “there were almost as many people who voted for McCain” as for Obama is nonsense. In the popular vote, Obama beat McCain by 6.1 percentage points — not exactly a photo finish. In electoral votes, Obama’s margin was 68 percent to 32 percent. What a squeaker!
You call yourself a “historian”? That’s in the same sense that Sarah Palin is an intellectual, right?
7. Steve | November 29th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I must have hit a nerve. Yes, people can make information up, Stephen Ambrose was busted for plagiarism and so was the Lincoln historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. They are professional historians and they fibbed. I guess you think that Wikipedia is a credible source as well? You obviously think You Tube is credible. There are thousands of Bloggers out there with agendas like yourself. Since you can make a Blog for free with no experience or education, yes people can lie about anything. You are surprisingly trusting for a liberal. The moral of my story is that if you use credible evidence in the first place, you will not be questioned. If you want, I can teach you how to find it. I am sure they taught you that at Cracker Jack Univ., right? Or do you even have a journalism degree? It doesn’t seem like it. It that why they put you in the Bloggosphere? I know the paper is sucking financially and people are leaving, when are you going to get off the ship and get a credible job?
Popular vote results:
Obama: 66,882,230 (52.8% of the vote)
McCain:58,343,671
Source: CNN
When you consider how many people voted, it wasn’t a blowout. You liberals didn’t like the electoral college last time did you? At least we are not the one’s crying about a “stolen” election. Did someone say ACORN? Go ahead and make fun of Governor Palin, she has a higher approval rating than Blago, and every other Democratically ran organization. I am sure that you think Joe “gaffe machine-plagiarist” Biden is an intellectual. I know you are still angry because I blew you out of the water with your false history of the Democratic party and flippant use of the word “fascist.” So yes, I am a historian. Open a couple of books and call me in the morning. Oh, you still have not answered a basic question I asked before. Tell me, what “awesome benefits” are the black community garnishing with the Democrats and “poverty pimps” exploiting them, besides votes? C’mon scoop, this is your shot to come up with something original.
8. Monster | November 29th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
The black community is getting the same amount of benefit from the poverty pimps that the religious right is getting from the marriage/baby savers.
9. Steve | November 29th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Hey Monster, the black community voted down prop 8 in California, not Republicans. That shows that they are socially conservative. What is wrong, do you have something against babies? Everyone likes babies. So, they are being exploited for their votes? Good stuff.
10. David Barrett | November 30th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Steve,
Great work providing comic relief here. But can I take time out from the hilarity for a moment of seriousness. People may be misled by what you said to think that Californians who voted for Obama were more responsible for passing Prop 8, making gay marriage illegal, than Republicans. CNN exit polls show that:
So it was overwhelmingly Republicans (McCain supporters) who voted for Prop 8 and against equal rights for gays, not Obama supporters.
Sorry for the interruption, but I thought that was an important point to make.
Let the comedy resume!
11. Steve | November 30th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Oh Dave, you really thought you had a shot there didn’t you? Well here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, at the heart of the matter. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/16/MN5R1435T4.DTL
It is titled “Trends beyond black vote in play on Prop. 8.”
Here is a direct quote: “Since the election, there’s been a tremendous focus on the fact that 70 percent of African Americans voted to ban same-sex marriages in California.”
Oh snap! That sucked didn’t it? Also it is very racist of you to think that all blacks are Obama supporters. I know quite a few black Republicans who voted for McCain. Don’t think that the Democratic party has a hegemony on the black vote. Also, that is an exit poll, they have been known to be wrong often. It was not a scientific poll. Nice try.
12. Steve | November 30th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it Dave?
13. Pat Cunningham | November 30th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
UPDATE: In my comment No. 6 (above), I said Obama beat McCain by 6.1 percentage points in the popular vote. New figures show that the margin was 6.8 percentage points.
14. Pat Cunningham | November 30th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
By the way, the following passage from Steve’s comment No. 12 (above) is the funniest thing I’ve read in months:
” I know quite a few black Republicans who voted for McCain. Don’t think that the Democratic party has a hegemony on the black vote.”
In reality, Obama carried 96 percent of the black vote.
No, there’s no hegemony there. Blacks who voted for McCain can be found all over the place. And they’re all acquaintances of Steve.
15. Pat Cunningham | November 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
One other thing, Steve: You dismiss David Barrett’s numbers as having been drawn from exit polls, which you say “have been known to be wrong often.” But where did you get your numbers on the percentage of blacks who voted for Prop. 8? Well, of course, you got them from exit polls.
Where did you say you went to college? I want to make sure my daughter avoids such schools.
16. David Barrett | November 30th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Steve,
Wonderful comedy! The part where you dismiss the validity of other people’s data as based on exit polls and then use exit poll data and “people I know” as data to support your argument is great satire.
Also attributing racism to me, when I did not mention blacks at all, while race had been the centerpiece to your point was brilliant. That point out something Republicans have been doing the whole campaign. It is pure comedy gold the way you point that out.
Keep it coming! I love it
17. Monster | November 30th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Steve thanks for making my point for me. The people voted down gay marriage, not the politicians.
18. Steve | November 30th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I am sorry Dave that I actually “know” people. I know all of your “friends” are on Facebook. Do you even have a degree Pat? I have asked you before and you refused to answer. UPDATE: Obama still only won with 52% of the vote. Don’t be jealous guys because I don’t use my wife as the sole source of income in our family and sit in my basement all day. Dave, you are an echo. Whatever Patsy writes, you say the same thing. Like I have said before, you are specialists in regurgitation. There is a black person in your party who does not support gay marriage, oh yeah…Obama. Dave, I don’t know why you have a boner for gay marriage, but your messiah does not support it and shares the same opinion that I do on the topic. Wow Pat, usually you don’t have the stones to comment on what I say, you must have been tippin’ back the Scotch this afternoon. You are right, I forgot, you do not consider black Republicans “black,” you call them “Uncle Toms.” Remember the Michael Steele story? Like I said, do you need an eye-color chart? Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and numerous other black Republican politicians across the country. Just because they are not exploitative poverty pimps like in the Democratic party, they are still black. Sorry that I didn’t go to Brown so I could get brainwashed. I had to go to public universities like NIU since I was on the GI Bill and didn’t have “mommy and daddy” pay for my education. I know liberals do not like self-made men since we have actually done something with our life. Keep trying to stay relevant gents.
19. David Barrett | November 30th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Steve,
I am disappointed in this latest. You are just slinging random insults, hoping that one or two might hit a target. Where is the brilliant satire and biting irony of your previous comments?
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