2012 Presidential Race

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Originally Posted by race aficionado

274-203

Just past 11 am and Florida hadn't even been called.

I am not shy to say that I am SO happy with this news.

My respects to my republican fellow forum members.

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Thank you Race, I am not at all unhappy about the results. I think the republican party needs a total overhaul at best. At the end of this term if I am still alive I will
be way to old to give a crap about the next one. So onward and GO Alonso!!!!

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Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

The polls do take the electoral college into consideration but they also all give a disclaimer that they have a degree of error of roughly 3 points. This was a close election going in by (almost) all accounts. :bulb:

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Thats what I thought too, that even with the polls slightly in favour of Obama just a day before the election a Romney victory was certainly within the margins of error.

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Originally Posted by Gregor-y

The polls weren't really that close; it was mainly reporting that was playing up the closeness. More telling are the demographics of voting. Republicans received 7% of the black vote (no surprise there no matter which angle you look at it), 27% of the Hispanic vote (still the fastest growing voting group) and about 37% of voters under 30.

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After all the odd Republican comments about abortion, rape and sometimes abortion after rape what about vote breakdown between men and women?

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Originally Posted by Gregor-y

None of this bodes well for the future unless Republicans change their positions on a lot of issues, but this is where they were after the last election and if anything Republicans became more combative, obstructionist and extreme. So they're either going to change or split, with the current leadership and their dedicated followers being relegated to embarrassing nuisances like various national fronts in Europe. Granted they'll still make a lot of noise on the internet. ;)

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It looks like the Republicans have repeated what happened in the UK after Tony Blair won in 1997. For a decade the Tory party lurched progressively right wing to the extent that the extremists were getting concerned that their policies were being hijacked and they were losing votes to the Conservatives. While that won a few votes from a vocal but small part of the population that made them unelectable for the mainstream. It took over a decade and several electoral disasters for them to finally elect a leader capable taking the party back into the centre.

I wonder if the Republicans are heading for a similar time in the wilderness, after all even Romney started relatively mainstream and got pulled further to the right by people from the Tea Party etc.

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Originally Posted by Gregor-y

The polls weren't really that close; it was mainly reporting that was playing up the closeness. More telling are the demographics of voting. Republicans received 7% of the black vote (no surprise there no matter which angle you look at it), 27% of the Hispanic vote (still the fastest growing voting group) and about 37% of voters under 30.

None of this bodes well for the future unless Republicans change their positions on a lot of issues, but this is where they were after the last election and if anything Republicans became more combative, obstructionist and extreme. So they're either going to change or split, with the current leadership and their dedicated followers being relegated to embarrassing nuisances like various national fronts in Europe. Granted they'll still make a lot of noise on the internet. ;)

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A quick look at the last figures I could find show Obama at approx. 59 million votes and Romney at approx. 57 million votes. That's a winning margin of 1.7% of the total votes cast. Hardly a blow out win in the popular vote. The real difference was in the electoral college. The sad thing is that only 57.48% of eligible voters cast ballots - that's a real shame no matter who you may have supported. (Caveat - not all votes counted yet.)

As an outsider, who values the role of the United States of America in the world I sincerely hope that the GOP can be rebuilt and return to the center, becoming a party with more mainstream positions, not dedicated to ruin the lives of women, minorities and gays. I think that the USA can only benefit from a rational alternative to the Democrats, which for now seem to be the sensible choice despite their weaknesses.

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Originally Posted by Roamy

I think the republican party needs a total overhaul at best.

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I've been of that opinion for a long time now.

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Originally Posted by Starter

The sad thing is that only 57.48% of eligible voters cast ballots - that's a real shame no matter who you may have supported. (Caveat - not all votes counted yet.)

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You sound disappointed with that figure but for a mature democracy that really isn't a bad turnout.

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Originally Posted by F1boat

As an outsider, who values the role of the United States of America in the world I sincerely hope that the GOP can be rebuilt and return to the center, becoming a party with more mainstream positions, not dedicated to ruin the lives of women, minorities and gays. I think that the USA can only benefit from a rational alternative to the Democrats, which for now seem to be the sensible choice despite their weaknesses.

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So do I, our country is poorer for having hopeless opposition in recent years. When Labour romped to a landslide victory in '97 the Conservatives tore themselves apart, seemingly having a different leader every few months. Even as their popularity faded and Brown became a hate figure, Cameron couldn't muster a proper majority. Now we have a coalition who seem utterly useless in every respect but Milliband is the equivalent of the hapless footballer who, faced with an open goal, kicks the ball up into the stands every time.

A strong opposition is vital to a working democracy, and I hope the Republicans can morph into a party capable of working with Obama but keeping him on his toes, rather than a reactive bunch of naysayers hell bent on blocking every Democratic policy out of sheer bloodymindedness.

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Originally Posted by Malbec

You sound disappointed with that figure but for a mature democracy that really isn't a bad turnout.

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I could call our democracy many things, but given the antics of both parties this time around, "mature" won't be one of them. :p

Dave B, I must admit that I do not follow British politics as much as US ones, but from what I see neither Labours nor Conservatives are as extreme as their positions as the tea party controlled GOP. In fact, the current GOP resembles BNP and that is why I find it to be scary - something which I can't say for a mainstream political party in the UK or Western Europe.