Spinning the Numbers
Liberal blogger Donkey Rising is absolutely crowing over the numbers coming from the final count in the '04 presidential election, wherein we find that Bush won with a popular vote of just 50.74%:So Bush's final percentage point margin is closer to two points than three and his final vote margin is under 3 million. Hardly awe-inspiring--in fact, unprecedentedly weak as incumbent re-election victories go. And we're supposed to believe this is a mandate?This is a blog that is sadder than Michael Moore at a gun show catered by "Nuthin' but Salad" (come on, emergingdemocraticmajorityweblog.com? Emerging where? Colorado? Or perhaps Canada?)
Let's put this whole "mandate" in historical perspective (again!).
The electoral college was the only vote recorded before 1824, so a count of popular vote was not taken. Since then, however, there have been 46 presidential elections. Of the 45 elections previous to this one, only 58% were won by a popular vote greater than the 50.74% of the popular vote carried by W in 2004.
That means that 4 in 10 elections were won with a lower percentage of popular votes than in 2004.
If close to 51% isn't a "mandate", what is the magic number? 55%? 60?
Only 13 elections were won with a greater than 55% popular vote (9 Republican and 4 Democrat). Only 4 have been won with greater than 60% of the popular vote (two for each party).
In fact, 17 of these elections resulted in a president that didn't have even a 50% majority of the popular vote. 37%! A nation "more divided than ever"? I don't think so!
Lincoln won reelection with only 55% of the popular vote. But Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia didn't even participate in the election. Would Lincoln have won had these southern states cast their votes? Of course not! Yet many (even many Democrats) consider this Republican to be America's greatest president!
And let's not forget that the liberal's favorite presidential figure, the draft-dodging, whore-chasing, dope-smoking, intern-molesting Clinton, never reached even 50% of the popular vote. Did you hear Republicans whine about "mandate"? No.
In fact, just how may Democrats have ever won with a greater percentage of the popular vote than W took in 2004? Try nine out of twenty -- less than half!
| Democrat Presidents Through History | ||||
| Year | President | Percent of Popular Vote | > 50.74% of Popular Vote? | |
| 1996 | Clinton | 49.2% | ||
| 1992 | Clinton | 43.0% | ||
| 1976 | Carter | 50.1% | ||
| 1964 | Johnson | 61.1% | X | |
| 1960 | Kennedy | 47.7% | ||
| 1948 | Truman | 49.6% | ||
| 1944 | F. D. Roosevelt | 53.4% | X | |
| 1940 | F. D. Roosevelt | 54.7% | X | |
| 1936 | F. D. Roosevelt | 60.8% | X | |
| 1932 | F. D. Roosevelt | 57.4% | X | |
| 1916 | Wilson | 49.2% | ||
| 1892 | Cleveland | 46.1% | ||
| 1884 | Cleveland | 48.5% | ||
| 1856 | Buchanan | 45.3% | ||
| 1952 | Pierce | 50.8% | X | |
| 1844 | Polk | 48.1% | ||
| 1836 | Van Buren | 50.8% | X | |
| 1832 | Jackson | 54.2% | X | |
| 1828 | Jackson | 56.0% | X | |
| 1824 | Jackson | 41.3% | ||
Note: for comparisons sake, 70% of the Republicans have won with greater than 50.74% of the popular vote. Does this mean that Republicans almost always carried a mandate while Democrats rarely do so?
So much for the historical perspective; let's take a look at the current situation. To recap: On November 2nd, Americans:
- Confidently voted the president back into office by a greater margin than four years ago in virtually every state in the union.
- Turned out in greater numbers in almost all demographics to make W the leader of the free world, including African-Americans, Whites and Hispanics, Union members, Jews and Catholics, Republicans and -- yes -- even Democrats.
- Exhibited enthusiastic support for the Compassionate Conservative agenda by sending more Senators and Representatives to Congress, leading to an astounding four-seat gain in the closely-divided Senate.
- Clearly sent a message to the Democrat party that they are too far left by banning same sex marriage in all eleven of the states where it appeared on the ballot.
- Clear sent a message to the Democrat party that they expected more from them than obstructionism by replacing the 24-year incumbent/minority leader, Tom Daschle.
So while Donkey Rising hugs his skewed perceptions close and dreams of a liberal world, the rest of the country will be getting on with what is important: the Global War on Islamofascism, reforming Social Security, fixing education by a method other than throwing money at the problem, putting balance back into the Supreme Court.
Do I agree with everything the president does? Of course not! Do I think that he is the president and as such has the right to act like one? Emphatically yes!
Side note: What does a president do when he doesn't have a "mandate"? Rule by committee?
Blog post #4287 in category
Races of '04
posted 23 December 04
Truly superior bloggers that reference Spinning the Numbers:
» Submitted for Your Approval
from Watcher of Weasels:
First off... any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now... here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher's Council for this week's vote. Council link... [Read More]
Tracked on December 29, 2004 1:34 AM
» The Council Has Spoken!
from Watcher of Weasels:
First off... any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now... the winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Spinning the Numbers by Alpha Patri... [Read More]
Tracked on December 31, 2004 12:43 AM
» The Council Has Spoken
from King of Fools:
The Watcher's Council has met and voted on the posts of the week: Winning Council Entry: Spinning the Numbers Alpha Patriot Winning Non-Council Entry: Academic Freedom, Hate Mail and David Horowitz La Shawn Barber's Corner Happy Fri... [Read More]
Tracked on December 31, 2004 7:59 AM
» The Council Has Spoken!
from The Education Wonks:
The Watcher's Council has met and voted on this week's entries. There were a number of excellent posts that ... [Read More]
Tracked on December 31, 2004 5:49 PM
» The Council Speaks Again
from Little Miss Attila:
The winning council post was Alpha Patriot's "Spinning the Numbers." Outside of the council, LaShawn Barber won this week's prize with "Academic Freedom, Hate Mail, and David Horowitz". The entire menu of excellent posts—including some lovely run... [Read More]
Tracked on December 31, 2004 7:01 PM
» The Coalition of the Willing
from Watcher of Weasels:
As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what we consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... though I don't actually vote unless there happens... [Read More]
Tracked on January 2, 2005 12:50 AM
» Watcher's Council Submission
from Belief Seeking Understanding:
As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting the... [Read More]
Tracked on January 2, 2005 6:25 AM
» Submitted for your consideration
from The Glittering Eye:
As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one... [Read More]
Tracked on January 2, 2005 3:54 PM
» OUT OF SORTS FOR A WHILE - THE COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN.
from The SmarterCop:
Now that was a holiday. It was possibly the busiest period of time I've had for years, despite the fact that there was no work during the week or so time span between Christmas and the New Year. Anyhow, it... [Read More]
Tracked on January 3, 2005 8:26 AM
» Watcher Of Weasles Council Winners
from The Moderate Voice:
The Watcher of Weasels Council has announced its weekly winners (The Moderate Voice was invited to sit on the Council; he is and they are squished...) COUNCIL MEMBER WINNING POST: Alpha Patriot's Spinning The Numbers NON-COUNCIL MEMBERS WINNING POST: La [Read More]
Tracked on January 7, 2005 12:24 PM
» http://beautifulatrocities.com/archives/2005/01/watchers_counci_1.html
from Beautiful Atrocities:
WATCHER'S COUNCIL BEST POSTS OF THE LAST WEEK OF 2004 Alpha Patriot: Spinning the Numbers, in which AP places the 2004 election results in context with previous elections going back to 1824 LaShawn Barber: Academic Freedom, Hate Mail, & David... [Read More]
Tracked on January 23, 2005 12:31 PM