Vote totals lower then 2004.....Obama did not bring out the vote

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Mercor, Nov 5, 2008.

  1. Where did you get your numbers from?

    according to cnn, 96% of the votes has been counted at:
    Obama: 62,648,654
    McCain: 55,531,548

    Adds up to 118,180,202. (118,180,202/96)*100 = 123,104,377
     
    #11     Nov 5, 2008
  2. Mercor

    Mercor

    My numbers were early morning...I am sure they will be counting for awhile....it seems total votes will be higher....but no blowout
     
    #12     Nov 5, 2008
  3. Wheres the other ~1/3 of the country? I heard from so many Americans that this election is so important, and less then half turn out...
     
    #13     Nov 5, 2008
  4. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_on_el_pr/voter_turnout


    Voter turnout best in generations, maybe a century



    WASHINGTON – America voted in record numbers, standing in lines that snaked around blocks and in some places in pouring rain. Voters who queued up Tuesday and the millions who balloted early propelled 2008 to the highest turnout in generations, maybe a century.

    Preliminary projections based on 83 percent of the country's precincts tallied, indicate that more than 131 million Americans will have voted this year, easily outdistancing 2004's 122.3 million, which had been the highest grand total of voters before.

    That puts the 2008 turnout rate of eligible voters hovering around 64 percent, experts said.

    That's the best in at least 44 years, maybe more depending on who is doing the counting and how they count.

    Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate at American University and dean of turnout experts, said early numbers show 2008 to be about equal to or better than 1964, but not higher than 1960 which is the post-World War II high.

    Michael McDonald of George Mason University sees the numbers passing 1964 and dancing with 1960, the famed John F. Kennedy-Richard Nixon squeaker. If this year beats 1960, it would be the highest since 1908, when William Howard Taft beat William Jennings Bryan.

    What's most interesting about early results is not just how many people voted but the shifting demographic of American voters, said Stephen Ansolabehere, a political science professor at Harvard and MIT.

    Using exit polling data, Ansolabehere determined that whites made up 74 percent of the 2008 electorate. That's down considerably from 81 percent in 2000 because of increase in black and Hispanic voting, he said.

    "That's a big shift in terms of demographic composition of the electorate," Ansolabehere said early Wednesday.

    Experts pointed to a weak economy and a lively campaign that promised a history-making result for the high turnout.

    North Carolina set a record for its highest turnout, because of close presidential, Senate and gubernatorial races, Gans said. Other states where turnout increased were Indiana, Delaware, Virginia and Alabama.

    Ansolabehere said young voters didn't show up in the advertised wave, but others disagreed.

    "Young voters have dispelled the notion of an apathetic generation and proved the pundits, reporters and political parties wrong by voting in record numbers today," said Heather Smith, the executive director of Rock the Vote. "The Millennial generation is making their mark on politics and shaping our future."

    Wayne State University nursing student Audrey Glenn, 19, spent four hours waiting to cast her vote in Michigan, in part because Southfield election officials couldn't find her name on their lists.

    "But it was all worth it," she said.

    Ann Canales, a 47-year-old single mother, emerged from her Texas polling place with a wide grin, accompanied by her 16-year-old son.

    "I've just been waiting for this day," said Canales, who voted for Barack Obama.

    Norma Storms, a 78-year-old resident of Raytown, Mo., said her driveway was filled with cars left by voters who couldn't get into nearby parking lots.

    "I have never seen anything like this in all my born days," she said. "I am just astounded."

    In some places the wait lasted hours, and lines stretched for half a mile.

    "Well, I think I feel somehow strong and energized to stand here even without food and water," said Alexandria, Va., resident Ahmed Bowling, facing a very long line. "What matters is to cast my vote."
     
    #14     Nov 5, 2008
  5. Mercor's argument is that if you don't include the absentee ballots and the ones that hadn't been counted when the article was posted, there were slightly fewer votes than in 2004.

    So yes, the turnout was massive compared to 2004 -- then you have to factor in that Republican turnout was depressed and low.
     
    #15     Nov 5, 2008
  6. The number now stands at 136,631,825, 12% above 2004's number, and a clear blowout. I think you spoke too soon.
     
    #16     Nov 5, 2008