Who stayed home or voted for Gore because of Bush's DUI?

[darklordoftech]

I read an article suggesting that evangelicals stayed home because of Bush's DUI. Is this true? Did other demographics also stay home or switch parties?

[HillGoose]

If I remember correctly, I once read that on election night Bush and his whole group with him expected to lose, because of the DUI surprise that they believed would encourage evangelicals to stay home, and when the networks initially called Florida for Gore, Bush basically accepted that he had lost.

Of course, the fact that he ended up not losing, makes you wonder if there was even anything to that. I mean I'm sure there as at least one would-be evangelical Bush voter who did stay home over the DUI, but was it anything substantial? Probably not.

[darklordoftech]

If I remember correctly, I once read that on election night Bush and his whole group with him expected to lose, because of the DUI surprise that they believed would encourage evangelicals to stay home, and when the networks initially called Florida for Gore, Bush basically accepted that he had lost.

Of course, the fact that he ended up not losing, makes you wonder if there was even anything to that. I mean I'm sure there as at least one would-be evangelical Bush voter who did stay home over the DUI, but was it anything substantial? Probably not.

From when it first became clear that Bush was going to run until the DUI came out, it was thought that Bush would win the popular vote and would unambigiously win the Electoral College. The fact that this didn't happen led Rove to conclude that the DUI made a difference.

[HillGoose]

If I remember correctly, I once read that on election night Bush and his whole group with him expected to lose, because of the DUI surprise that they believed would encourage evangelicals to stay home, and when the networks initially called Florida for Gore, Bush basically accepted that he had lost.

Of course, the fact that he ended up not losing, makes you wonder if there was even anything to that. I mean I'm sure there as at least one would-be evangelical Bush voter who did stay home over the DUI, but was it anything substantial? Probably not.

From when it first became clear that Bush was going to run until the DUI came out, it was thought that Bush would win the popular vote and would unambigiously win the Electoral College. The fact that this didn't happen led Rove to conclude that the DUI made a difference.

Ohhh yeah true. There might have been a lot of them then. I do know one thing in 2000 was that like, people seemed to think it really didn't matter between Bush and Gore, you know. Like people thought they were similar or something I guess. In that case, I can see how a lot of evangelicals would be like, "Yeah I was going to go for Bush because he's more socially conservative than Gore, but this DUI thing makes me think he's a hypocrite so he's no better than Gore." I mean I get that line of thought there.

[darklordoftech]

If I remember correctly, I once read that on election night Bush and his whole group with him expected to lose, because of the DUI surprise that they believed would encourage evangelicals to stay home, and when the networks initially called Florida for Gore, Bush basically accepted that he had lost.

Of course, the fact that he ended up not losing, makes you wonder if there was even anything to that. I mean I'm sure there as at least one would-be evangelical Bush voter who did stay home over the DUI, but was it anything substantial? Probably not.

From when it first became clear that Bush was going to run until the DUI came out, it was thought that Bush would win the popular vote and would unambigiously win the Electoral College. The fact that this didn't happen led Rove to conclude that the DUI made a difference.

Ohhh yeah true. There might have been a lot of them then. I do know one thing in 2000 was that like, people seemed to think it really didn't matter between Bush and Gore, you know. Like people thought they were similar or something I guess. In that case, I can see how a lot of evangelicals would be like, "Yeah I was going to go for Bush because he's more socially conservative than Gore, but this DUI thing makes me think he's a hypocrite so he's no better than Gore." I mean I get that line of thought there.

I think the "no real difference" narrative came from Bush's support for expanding Medicare and giving amensty to illegal immigrants and Gore being the husband of someone famous for advocating music censorship and having served in the military.

[Lechasseur]

If I remember correctly, I once read that on election night Bush and his whole group with him expected to lose, because of the DUI surprise that they believed would encourage evangelicals to stay home, and when the networks initially called Florida for Gore, Bush basically accepted that he had lost.

Of course, the fact that he ended up not losing, makes you wonder if there was even anything to that. I mean I'm sure there as at least one would-be evangelical Bush voter who did stay home over the DUI, but was it anything substantial? Probably not.

From when it first became clear that Bush was going to run until the DUI came out, it was thought that Bush would win the popular vote and would unambigiously win the Electoral College. The fact that this didn't happen led Rove to conclude that the DUI made a difference.

Yeah I think he lost enough votes over that that it turned the election essentially into a tie. Had the DUI not come out, he would have won NM, OR and WI at least along with winning FL without any doubt and he would have won the PV.