It is 2am East Coast time in the US, 6pm here, and an election result is not clear. All of our free to air television stations have dropped normal programmes with wall to wall election coverage. It has never happened before and how tedious.
I am looking at map of the US with the 2016 election results and I am a little puzzled as to why Illinois surrounded by a sea of Republican red voted for Clinton and not Trump, but when checking a detail, Chicago is the answer I guess.
Most Democrat states are on the coast, and I can probably understand why Colorado voted for Clinton. But I know little about New Mexico (build the wall turned voters off?) and Minnesota is perhaps the most puzzling one for me.
Can you help me understand New Mexico and Minnesota?
Voting for Clinton or Biden? Sadly things aren't looking too good for Biden right now...
ReplyDeleteSami, 2016 it was Clinton v Trump. Maybe I have misunderstood you. We may know in the morning. Trump sounds downbeat to me.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my mistake. Didn't read 2016 and when I read Clinton I thought of Bill and not Hilary.
DeleteI am hoping though the figures depress me. Trump throwing a tantrum and saying he will involve the Supreme Court is encouraging though.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand the Electoral College.
EC, I know a little more this election than I did in the past, but I can't explain it yet.
DeleteIt's all weird to me, for me to try and understand how it's 'all' done think I would be researching for years.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to be brought up on it, like understanding why the shelf price in a US supermarket is not what you pay at the register. Of course you pay more.
DeleteI think it will be days if not weeks before we know the result as it is too close to call at the moment. Trump is going to use all the tricks in the book to try and make it go his way. The trouble is he seems to get away with it!
ReplyDeleteI feel the USA needs a total revamp of our voting system. As it stands it is rife for cheating. It should be one vote, one person, sadly we have people double voting by using the names of people long dead.
ReplyDeleteMaribeth, I honestly don't think that happens much, if at all. Voting in the USA is generally very secure. There are many precautions against fraud.
DeleteSteve, I would have agreed up until this year. With so many people opting to pre-vote due to Covid and then the record breaking turnout, I wonder if we will ever know the truth behind this election.
DeleteI am just flabbergasted and discouraged at the way things stand at 7:40 AM on Wednesday morning. America, you have some 'splaining to do. People need to rethink the definition of "liberty."
ReplyDeleteMinnesota has a long tradition of voting Democrat, primarily (I think) because of its fairly tolerant Scandinavian settlers. Illinois is a very urban state, with Chicago and its environs, and it customarily goes Democratic. Also, labor unions have historically been strong in Illinois and unions tend to produce Democratic votes.
ReplyDeleteNew Mexico has a lot of Latino voters, federal employees and former city dwellers from the East Coast who have settled in areas around Santa Fe and Taos, who tend to vote Democratic. (And not as many retirees, who typically drag neighboring Arizona toward the Republicans, although this year it seems to have gone for Biden.)
Interesting that you've had nonstop coverage there!
Steve explained it well, I would add that Minnesota has a lot of rural farm land, and those areas have become increasingly conservative - the rise of evangelical christian, and Catholics being urged to vote Republican. New Mexico has become a place to move to for liberal policy, and has a high Latino percentage who have had family members hurt by the current administration. (Our immigration laws have been out of touch with reality for decades.)
ReplyDeleteThere's a need, in my view, to update the electoral college system. At the heart of a democracy is the notion of one vote, one value. That's not the case. We had it in Queensland for many years also. It's called a gerrymander. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering
ReplyDeleteWhat is truly disturbing to me are the numbers voting for this genocidal monster. The heart of USA laid bare. Whoever wins, it's a time of revisiting their hallowed constitution and the Federal Nanny - the Electoral College.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Yeah, Clinton won by popular vote but lost the electoral college, where states each get a certain number of electoral votes and those are counted in national elections, not popular vote. I don't know why either. I suspect this election may turn out the same, where Biden wins popular vote but loses electoral college vote. The electoral votes give the most populous states far more clout, but why not just go by the vote of the people? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand it at all Andrew, the electoral college thing is surely outdated! I'm just hoping I wake up with more positive news than when I put the telly off tonight 😱
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, Andrew, the states east of Illinois is what is referred to as the Rust Belt, once a booming manufacturing area. NAFTA (negotiated by the Reagan administration, signed in after Clinton took office) decimated these jobs. They were outsourced to other countries where the labor was cheaper. These areas struggle, terribly. Listen to Billy Joel's "Allentown" to get an idea of the human toll). These states are easy prey to tRUMP's professed outrage at this: he's going to bring these jobs back! He's going to make America great again. It doesn't matter one whit that he's full of bullpucky. They fall for it because if they don't, they have no other hope. I see it in my own state. The 'tRUMP digs coal signs' all along the roads in central PA. Nevermind the fact that coal is done. Well and truly done. It is a dying business, dangerous and dirty, and there is far less demand for the product they were paid good money to dig. tRUMP promised to bring back coal. There's no way he can do that, but desperate people see a light. I live in NW PA. It is oil country. Biden said that he was not going to permit fracking on Federal land any more. People. went. nuts. My husband's family is heavily invested in this business. They vote for tRUMP because he told them that he was going to steal their jobs away.
ReplyDeleteAs to your question about Illinois. Illinois is far enough away from the rust belt. Chicago is urban, with a heavy population of non-whites. These ethnic groups see tRUMP as racist. (They are correct) They are going to lean democratic.
In the end, urban areas tend to lean democratic, mostly due to the fact that you're dealing with a better educated, more diverse population.
Do not abandon hope. I can't. Pennsylvania has a law that the ballots cast on November 3rd are counted first. Mail-in and early votes are counted when the Nov 3rd ballots are counted. What they have counted so far is (as I understand it) 71% democratic. Why? Because democrats have faith in the system and also tend to take Covid more seriously tahn republicans who are going to scream that it is all a hoax that will go away after the election. There are millions of votes not yet counted.
Wherever you have educated, diverse populations, they will lean democratic. Look at a state map to see how many of the states not counted have large urban areas. You get an idea that the thing is not over yet.
Forgive me for hijacking your post.
Late edit: nw pennsylvania votes for tRUMP because he told them BIDEN would steal their jobs away. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is we're still standing and the electoral college is sadly antiquated.
ReplyDeletePS. When I said we're, I was referring to the dems. Very nerve racking.
ReplyDeleteBecause I knew you'd want to know: Rhode Island has voted via citizen's initiative referendum (one of your "extra questions on the ballot") to remove "Providence Plantations" from its name. Rhode Island is now officially named, tada, Rhode Island!
ReplyDeleteMore importantly as all votes are being methodically counted in all the states, Biden currently has 253 electoral votes to Trump's 214. 270 are needed for the win. We are feeling hopeful again.
It's my set-in-concrete opinion that the electoral college vote should be removed altogether and only votes form the people should be counted and the counting should NOT stop until every vote received has been counted, none of this "stop counting while I'm ahead" business Trump wants. Why would he want the counts to stop? Some of the uncounted might be for him. Does he really want to lose those numbers?
ReplyDelete