This election made Romney look so awful!

[MasterJedi]

Trump and Clinton look bad from this. Trump will likely get less votes than even McCain which is awful. Clinton couldn't secure enough millennial and African American voters to win.

[ApatheticAustrian]

i totally understand the millenial thingie and the afro-american vote.

regarding educated white women and latinos i would love to read deep-thinking analysis why so many voted for trump....just pure curiousity.

[hopper]

to be fair he also got to run against the worst presidential candidates in US history

Obama was very liked personally but his leadership especially on foreign policy was not the best I have to say with Putin just running over him and the creation of ISIS under his watch as well.

[ApatheticAustrian]

to be fair he also got to run against the worst presidential candidates in US history

Obama was very liked personally but his leadership especially on foreign policy was not the best I have to say with Putin just running over him and the creation of ISIS under his watch as well.

creation of ISIS was "the will of the peope"....which shows how dangerous populism can be at times.

[Storebought]

Every decrease in black voter participation rates from here on end will be dismissed by their not having a black to vote for on the presidential ticket.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Millions of people who voted for Trump would never vote for Romney, look at northeast PA. They voted for Trump because he promised to bring their jobs back. Romney was (or at least was painted as) the guy who their jobs away.

You are wrong about one point, they don't believe Trump will bring back all of their jobs and turn back the clock to 1970 but they do believe or at least hope that they will have a seat at the table and be respected by a Trump administration.  The Dems have ignored these voters and focused on minorities and this is the backlash.  Its more about feeling like someone in power is concerned about them than believing in a miracle (they aren't stupid).

I misspoke. I didn't mean that they feel those exact same jobs will come back to their town, but I feel they are at least hoping he'll bring industry back to the US.

[ApatheticAustrian]

always the optimist, i think, it coud be a gift that the least talented populist got into the WH early...

either he is BIGLY successful or he poisons the populist well for at least one decade.

[hopper]

i totally understand the millenial thingie and the afro-american vote.

regarding educated white women and latinos i would love to read deep-thinking analysis why so many voted for trump....just pure curiousity.

it wasn't college educated white women just overall that cost Hillary in this election it was non-college white women(the waitress type) that Hillary lost badly lost by a whopping 28% points nationwide. Bill Clinton in the 1990's did good with non-college white women(the waitress type.)

As far as Latino's maybe those type of Latino's who voted for Trump don't speak Spanish or aren't in touch with other Hispanic Immigrants in that they have been in the US for a long time and are just "melted" into US Culture.

I can't understand how the Dems did so badly with non-college white women since that was originally  a "New Deal era" type of voter for them. I think the Dems have gone too far to being a Cosmopolitan LA/NYC type of party.

[hopper]

always the optimist, i think, it coud be a gift that the least talented populist got into the WH early...

either he is BIGLY successful or he poisons the populist well for at least one decade.

It depends if Trump listens to his advisers. If he listens to his advisers he will probably be an average president. If he doesn't listens to his adviser his presidency he could be like Jimmy Carter's Presidency or worse. I don't think Trump will be a legendary President like a Reagan,  Ike or FDR type.

[hopper]

Every decrease in black voter participation rates from here on end will be dismissed by their not having a black to vote for on the presidential ticket.

The "missing Black Vote" I don't think is that significant in this election . Its just that the Dems took heavy losses with non-college whites in Michigan and Wisconsin and they couldn't make up for those losses up with the Black Vote.

[jaichind]

Trump and Clinton look bad from this. Trump will likely get less votes than even McCain which is awful. Clinton couldn't secure enough millennial and African American voters to win.

Once all the votes are counted (mostly from CA), Trump would have received more votes than both Mccain and Romney.

I suspect his vote share will fall below Romney.

[mencken]

Can we please stop citing popular vote totals until the West Coast finishes counting their mail ballots? Romney was behind McCain at this point in 2012 too, but ended up getting 1 million votes more.


In answer to the question, I concur. I think a lot of the difference might come from the differential emphasis on entitlement reform. While many voters desire limited government, they tend to view those that paid into the system as a lower priority for cuts than those who never paid to begin with.

[Maxwell]

I've noticed a pattern for when the American people vote for Republicans.

Romney was a buttoned up kind of a Republican, as a result, rurals went for Obama just enough to give him the win.

McCain had moments of complete incoherency but overall was a pretty legitimate candidate, we all know what happened there.

But Trump and W. Bush were mocked as comedy candidates, cartoon candidates. This only emboldens the rural voters and the kind of voters that turn out in droves and elect Republican candidates. Reagan was also roundly mocked by liberals and won several landslides. The last non-"straight talkin" Republican to win was George H.W. Bush, which was won based on the democrat being MICHAEL DUKAKIS, and who proceded to lose to Bubba Clinton.

Just as Clinton and Obama won by speaking to a large section of the population in an engaging way even as they were completely vilified by the other side, so did Trump and W. Bush. Candidates that don't inspire passion just lose, that's just the way it is.

[mencken]

I've noticed a pattern for when the American people vote for Republicans.

Romney was a buttoned up kind of a Republican, as a result, rurals went for Obama just enough to give him the win.

McCain had moments of complete incoherency but overall was a pretty legitimate candidate, we all know what happened there.

But Trump and W. Bush were mocked as comedy candidates, cartoon candidates. This only emboldens the rural voters and the kind of voters that turn out in droves and elect Republican candidates. Reagan was also roundly mocked by liberals and won several landslides. The last non-"straight talkin" Republican to win was George H.W. Bush, which was won based on the democrat being MICHAEL DUKAKIS, and who proceded to lose to Bubba Clinton.

Just as Clinton and Obama won by speaking to a large section of the population in an engaging way even as they were completely vilified by the other side, so did Trump and W. Bush. Candidates that don't inspire passion just lose, that's just the way it is.

So it looks like those of us who noticed McCain-Palin was leading the polls until the top of the ticket completely bungled the economic crisis were not so far off then.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Trump won this election handily despite:

1). Obama's excellent approval ratings
2). Growing economy
3). No support from the establishment (i.e. McCain, Bush, Ryan)

HOWEVER,

Romney in 2012 had none of those hindrances. At that time, he had full support from the party; Obama's approval ratings were bad; and the economy was hardly better than the 2007-2009 economy.

Does this election suggest that Romney lost because he was a bad candidate?

No romney would have beaten Clinton by 10-12 points

[ApatheticAustrian]

if we want to follow that trail of thought....

the less educated and the less qualified and the less intelligent you are....the higher your chance to become president?

seems much too simplistic, imho.

[hopper]

I've noticed a pattern for when the American people vote for Republicans.


But Trump and W. Bush were mocked as comedy candidates, cartoon candidates. This only emboldens the rural voters and the kind of voters that turn out in droves and elect Republican candidates. Reagan was also roundly mocked by liberals and won several landslides. The last Romney was a buttoned up kind of a Republican, as a result, rurals went for Obama just enough to give him the win.

McCain had moments of complete incoherency but overall was a pretty legitimate candidate, we all know what happened there.
non-"straight talkin" Republican to win was George H.W. Bush, which was won based on the democrat being MICHAEL DUKAKIS, and who proceded to lose to Bubba Clinton.

Just as Clinton and Obama won by speaking to a large section of the population in an engaging way even as they were completely vilified by the other side, so did Trump and W. Bush. Candidates that don't inspire passion just lose, that's just the way it is.

Romney ran as a Small Government Conservative which he wasn't he was a Northeast Republican.

McCain-Once the financial crisis hit his electoral chances of being elected President were put to a complete  halt.

Bill Clinton-I don't think he was that hated actually while running for the Presidency in 1992.

Yeah Bush W. was kinda of cartoonish for a Presidential Candidate in 2000 but he wasn't hated like Trump or Hillary are/were.

[drwho1]

Romney would have won if turnout matched 2016 and if he faced off against Hillary.
The hidden Obama voters (millenials and african-americans) stayed home in the mid-terms of 2010, 2014, and now 2016.
The media and polls convinced everyone and a lot of Democrats that it was an easy win for Hillary and many in MI and WI and PA stayed home instead of voting for Hillary, expecting her to win easily.

[Axel Foley]

Romney was stronger than Trump in the wrong States.