Monday, October 25, 2010

Who's voting?

It's getting close to election day now and I was thinking about how different the national mood is this year from that of 2008. Change was the catch phrase of the winners in '08 and interestingly enough it still is. Dissatisfaction with the incumbent is not unusual after 8 years as president. In fact the second terms of modern presidents are generally less focused and less successful. But, this is not a presidential election,it's only been 2 years not 2 terms. Still it could be considered a referendum on Barack Obama. The Democrats have rammed through legislation for the past two years with bi-lateral agreement neither wanted nor sought, riding roughshod over the conservatives.The Republican base is really pissed off now, and turnout within the party should be high. Turnout for midterm elections is historically 10 - 15 % less than presidential elections and since 63% of eligible voters voted in '08, that means less than half of eligible voters will show up to vote this year. Where are the other half on the political scale of conservative versus liberal?If they showed up to vote who would they vote for? If even half of the half voted it could be monumental. Hell Australia typically has a turnout of over 90% It boggles the mind. The Tea Party has injected the Republican Party with energy and determination. If that movement is made up of the non-voters from past elections, Democrats are toast.

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