Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
The outcome seems more like a typical off-presidential year swing than anything else.
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Not remotely. That was my thought at first too, but as the dust settles this looks more like a wave that has been contained by rural structural vote efficiency advantages and gerrymandering. Consider:
1. Voter turnout of over 114 million, crazy high for a midterm;
2. A popular vote margin of between 8 and 9 percent in favour of Democrats;
3. Historically deep red districts are flipping, or way closer than they should be (King almost loses IA-4; Rohrabacher loses in Orange County; OK-5 goes to the Democrats; Democrats win on Staten Island)
4. Democrats flip 7 governorships and a bunch of state houses; and
5. A social liberal’s wish list of “firsts”—first openly gay governor in Colorado, TWO Native American women and TWO Muslim women elected to Congress, etc. Et .);
6. Republicans come scarily close to losing a statewide race in TEXAS.
Florida is disappointing for Democrats, but their overall performance qualifies as a wave to me. The popular vote margin is larger than any of the recent “wave” elections. All of that plus the fact that this was a nationwide referendum on Trump, and he lost, and lost in the very rust belt states that helped him win in 2016.
I think he’s in trouble in 2020. If this is the electorate in two years he is going to lose the electoral college “bigly”.