Here's Just How Massive Republicans' Super Tuesday Turnout Was

This is why I am concerned about Hillary's ability to win a general election, because she is very much perceived as the establishment candidate, like it or not.

The enthusiasm in the Dem party lies with Sanders, and we see in the low turnout that Clinton's campaign, backed by the establishment machine, is working in the sense that some Sanders supporters aren't showing up because maybe they figure their candidate can't win, so they say 'fuck it' and stay home.

This certainly helps Clinton during the primaries, but it will cause our party to lose to Trump in the general election. Because, I'm so sorry, it's just damned hard to pump up enthusiasm for Clinton. For me, at least.

Hillary is like leftovers for dinner. You've seen it before, it's okay, but it's not a memorable meal.

taste better than the original.

not. And Hillary, in essence, promotes old school. Now, I say this as someone who likes both Hillary and Bernie for various different reasons and want a dem in the WH 2016, and will vote for whomever the dem nominee is, but I'm just looking at the reality of it all, IMO, as to where it's likely headed given the present course. The DNC and DWS have blinders on. Much of the populace is just fed up, fed up with everything and will likely vote accordingly even if in their own worst interests.

And Trump is an existential threat to be sure.

But he's not invulnerable — quite the reverse — and if Dems can't beat a guy with no real ideas and no interest in governance, who's a vulgar fraud to boot, then we need to be looking at our own electoral competence.

Am I concerned? Sure. I'm not a fan of juggling hand grenades. But this guy is sooooo beatable.

1) Trump will bring out support from the vote against Hillary crowd.

2) Trump will bring out the "we're sick of big money controlling politics" crowd. (I think that the left is seriously underestimating this. Propping up Hillary as the front runner is just throwing more fuel on that fire.)

3) Trump will bring out the "we need a businessman and not another politician crowd."

4) Trump will bring out the racists and xenophobes.

"no real ideas and no interest in governance, who's a vulgar fraud to boot"

To you those may seem like negatives. I'm not sure how many Republicans would agree. He is not coming across as a typical politician. He's coming across more like one of the "good 'ol boy bar buddy types". The fraud thing isn't going to hurt him because people are thinking; "Well at least his dirty laundry is out there and no one is trying to bury it like typical lying politicians would be doing."

Many, sadly, I call "family".
I can state, unequivocally, that they would vote for (insert you ideal embodiment of evil here) before doing nothing and allowing HRC to win the presidency.
To them voting for tRump is an east decision, no matter how much they dislike him, than allowing HRC to win.

Seriously, they would rather vote for PBO for a third term than vote for HRC (that was a direct quote from an uncle-fyi, he has never voted for a Dem)

As an aside, same said uncle would vote for Sanders to keep tRump from being president (because he thinks tRump is "crazy" but just can't stand Clinton and would rather have "crazy" if that were his only two choices (lives in FL).

Are probably out of reach for any Democrat. So no great loss. And the coalition described above is so volatile and internally incompatible, I can't see how it could be part of an effective campaign.

Yes, Trump could cut Clinton off at the knees -- if he's got the campaign mojo to do so. I haven't seen any sign yet that Trump does. Anger and media obsession are only going to carry him so far.

And like a bad TV show that caught everyone's attention because it was so outrageous, but turns out to be pretty cruddy when you look at it once or twice, Trump's ratings will plummet.

And then boy howdy will you see Republican panic.

With the fire of a supernova. Their hatred is visceral and all consuming. They will turn out in droves to vote against her.

Everybody has been dismissing Trump, and yet, he is still here and getting stronger every day. You overestimate the competence of the DNC leadership and underestimate how unpopular HRC is.

Nor do I think it's particularly communicable.

While Trump could immolate himself on the campaign trail at any time. In fact, he's probably already burned his candidacy down, but the conflagration is just on a long fuse.

IMO, only poor turnout can lose this election for either Sanders or Clinton.

It has been burning white hot for over two decades. Entire careers have been built on hatred of the Clintons.

As for Trump immolating himself, he has already flat out said he could kill someone and his numbers wouldn't go down. He quotes Mussolini, has followers swear loyalty oaths while giving the fascist salute and promises to commit war crimes.

None of this has hurt him.

I think we should really be worried.

But I'm not unconfident that Clinton can beat Trump full stop.

However, the stakes are too damn high!

As for the anti-Clinton hate, I was talking among the millions of eligible voters who -- not being political junkies -- have meh-to-positive, imminently-malleble opinions of her.

They are just that way.

has won, like today in Kansas. We need that high voter turn out to win. Yes, HRC did well in the primaries in which we have NO CHANCE of winning the GE - Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas to name a few.

The dem primary is pretty low on drama and so isn't drawing quite the same enthusiasm. The Republican party has some high tension which is bringing out the voters.

If that gap holds into the general it might get a little more scary, but not yet.

It's a big problem.

hundreds of thousands of low income people registered and to the polls in every election cycle.

Those are more votes lost, and it was the congressional Democrats who killed ACORN by voting with the Republicans to defund the organization when they held both houses in 2009 just because they couldn't wait out a couple of news cycles for the truth to come out about those edited "sting" videos.

This party is a perpetual circular firing squad.

and it wasn't just Congressional Democrats. Our President also ran away from ACORN as fast as he could too...
BECAUSE FOX NEWS COMPLAINED!!!!

Trump is liked because Right or Wrong, at least he STANDS UP.

ACORN, and then I lost all hope about him effectively challenging the RW noise machine after the way that his administration threw Shirley Sherrod under the bus when she was attacked in the exact same manner.

Couldn't run away fast enough.

day, a voter who is just voting for just a candidate may not vote. Someone who is enthusiastic and on fire for someone will stand in line in 2 feet of freezing weather to vote for their candidate.

And it will be the downfall of Hillary should she win the nomination.

No reason to vote when the coronation date is already set.

What happens if the Dem party gets so few votes this election cycle that a third party could do better?

What if it was a Socialist 3rd party?

and will come out to vote against the gop in the GE in droves.

Democrats in my circle of family/friends are appalled (and much entertained) by the gop antics more so than bickering about Bernie vs Hillary.

Don't be surprised come November.

But in my heart of hearts, I'm convinced that his basic vileness will doom him in the general.

The Pukes, the Baggers, the Anybody But Hillary types combined with a bizarre pathetic lack of voting by Democrats...

She would lose.

And the Entrenched Elite Establishment crowd are so fucking blinded by their death spiral devotion to her, that they can't see any of this.

Good gawd...incredible.

There is a chart out in NetSpace from CNN I think, that showed how on Super Tuesday, ALL Puke voting was way up while Dems were way down.

Plus, the Democratic establishment is trying to depress turnout for Bernie Sanders.

The damage is done, and I don't know if any of it can be repaired in time.

The manipulation of the Democratic party machinery by its elites during this caucus/primary period allowed Donald Trump, a complete surprise to even the elites both parties serve, to pitch himself very effectively, and quite possibly by complete accident, as a true populist hero ('He's saying out loud the things that everyone thinks but people running for President are too scared to say!' - I've heard that, or its rough equivalent, from more than a few people I have always considered generally decent, maybe leaning a bit on the 'intolerant' side.) Although... I haven't heard it spoken once in my now home state of Minnesota - for whatever reason he's really, really disliked here. Whew.

We had a chance to utterly eradicate any possibility of such a development in the candidacy of Bernie Sanders - who is, in word and deed, a genuine populist. And one who has been fighting for all sorts of social justice on street level for years and years. He has been very effectively suppressed by the party that could have swept 2016 elections in the House and Senate by embracing him.

And the more Republican party elites try to distance themselves from him, the more popular he will become. And, unless Sanders can rapidly overcome this suppression to win big in states that are voting now or very, very soon, which is seeming unlikely, we'll have the Ultimate Establishment Candidate of All Time running against a racist, sexist, flippant, ultra-rich mega-jerk populist hero.

Isn't Mad-Dog Dumpf vs The Iron Lady good theatre? Can't Clinton win a contest cast like that?

As for missed opportunities, being that specific about a campaign outcome right at this very moment is like trying to predict the weather in Oslo in August of 2023. Don't even bother, just yet.

On the Bernie side, he's such an obvious intellectual, ethical, and platform opposite (notwithstanding Trump's miscellaneous 'moderate' positions) to Trump that the choice is stark and compelling. Can't Bernie win a contest like that?

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/why-hillary-could-be-lot-more-vulnerable-trump-bernie

The enthusiasm over Bernie's proposal that state colleges and universities (and, I would add, technical and other trade schools) be tuition-free is due to the fact that young people with huge student loan debt are too often unable to find a job paying more than that of a McDonald's waiter or waitress.

Bernie is speaking to that problem.

So is Trump.

Hillary?????? Not in tones that anyone can hear or trust.

Student loans and personal debt in general are a big issue.

Trade is the reason for all that debt.

I hope you will read the article.

I'll vote for her if she gets the nomination, but without any enthusiasm, and my gut feeling is I'll be voting for the losing candidate. Her track records on trade and foreign policy are pretty hard to defend in my opinion.

But I mostly ignore. Trends tend to show that this happens with parties in power. Those on the outside become more enthused. And, as we saw, there were 16 candidates for a while.

Those in power are a bit more bland at this stage as things sort out, especially in what has really been a two person race from the start.

Applying the dynamics of the primary to the GE isn't how it works though. It's like comparing spring training games to the world series and wondering why there is such a difference in turnout.

Once it shifts to GE mode and the final candidates are there and the partisan side truly gets into play, then you'll see things change

JUST
LIKE
EVERY
OTHER
ELECTION

Independent in a primary.

Yes, a lot of primaries do not allow Independents to vote.

had good voter turnouts. Also, we had huge voter turn outs in Harris County, so much so that additional machines had to be sent to certain precincts. There were people STILL IN LINE. There were long lines in Nevada too. So how many voters gave up and went home?

I think our GOTV efforts should include encouraging people to vote early or by mail.

But this time, the stakes are so high, it's more like existential.

Trump went in with maybe 95% name recognition from TV, low info voters and bigots are excited and spur turnout in the GOP primary.In fact, a major reason Trump is doing so well is the absolute unworthiness of the GOP field, never saw so many horrible candidates.
I think once he's the nominee the reverse effect takes effect. Conscious people will react with horror to this Hitlerian rise and turn out to defeat him, I hope.

Consider the turnout were a famous liberal running on the Dem side, try George Clooney? Hate to sound sexist but I bet he'd drive women to vote in the primary, more than the policy wonks we currently have running.

...but no thank you.

I believe most of the Dems could actually be satisfied with either Sanders or Clinton.The Dems are not voting for the lesser of the three evils like the GOP constituency. C'mon voting has always been a struggle for me because its always about voting for the lesser of the evil.....

I have been very active in my local Democratic campaigns for years and years. Even attended a state Democratic convention. Could have done it more often, but I hate huge crowds. I get dizzy in them.

I will vote for all other Democrats on my ballot. Love them all. But I will not vote for Hillary.

Democrats talk a lot about campaign finance reform. But their talk is meaningless because they are now backing the prima donna of campaign finance corruption: Hillary Clinton. She is the star of this Democratic primary simply because she has the money to hand out to other Democrats and to the DNC and because she will buy lots of ads in the November election run-up.

Hillary is poison for this November. If we nominate Hillary and if none of the scandals knock out the candidacy of Trump, Trump will win.

I hate to say that, but Trump will win.

I will not have a Hillary presidency on my conscience. Trump is worse, but let's run Bernie and have a real contest between a moral and decent candidate who is a Democrat and a horrible candidate who is a Republican.

Let's don't have just two awful candidates, one a Republican and one a Democrat going at it in November.

Why Hillary can't win against Trump bar some amazing and disgusting revelations about Trump (the only thing that could take Hillary to the White House if Trump is the Republican candidate and Hillary the Democratic one).

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/why-hillary-could-be-lot-more-vulnerable-trump-bernie

In this particular instance, those GOP cumulative primary vote tallies represent MUCH less than the total of the individual parts. There is a lot of divisiveness within those numbers and there is no united front, far from it. Perhaps 40% of them are Trump voters, and half of the remaining 60% cannot stomach him. And Trump's supporters are not necessarily fond of Cruz or Rubio either. In addition, the party out of the White House can be expected to show up in greater numbers for primary elections, particularly with the unusually large number of candidates entering the race and the disproportionate media coverage for them. The general election will be a reset, and while a lot can happen between now and then, the "noise" in this year's primary stats will not be a reliable predictor of the November outcome.

and I am very concerned. Hillary might be generating women and blacks but that's just not enough to beat Trump. Her and Bernie together haven't generated the high volume of turnout that we've seen on the GOP side.
There seems to be an concerted effort to keep any establishment candidate out of contention.

All depends on which side decides to exercise their civic duty. We show up, we win.

And their numbers were record, ours weren't and we would have swamped them.

That should be of very real concern to literally every registered Democrat. But, sad to say, it isn't.

People are so fed up with the repug garbage, they are choosing drumpf because they know he will be decimated in the general. Google it. When we get to the general, they will switch back to Dem.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/why-hillary-could-be-lot-more-vulnerable-trump-bernie

It will only work if we nominate Bernie and the Bernie voters stay with our Party. If they simply vanish or vote for a third party, Democrats lose.

So far, we've had lots of Red State primaries, too, where the Trump fans are most prolific.

I'm pretty sure - regardless of the Republican candidate - Democrats will be motivated in November!

Trumpf is rallying the fascist underbelly of the right wing in this country. He is talking to it, playing them for suckers. Mittens had it exactly right for once.

That was my guess, too.

And let's not forget that TV is wall-to-wall Trump. He's an easy interview. All free to him no cost for TV advertising.


Cher

I think that it is another part of what is going on.

posted on DU thousands of times...

She hasn't even started yet.

Forget all of the previous primary results: After months of Frump's own humiliating videos, gop voters will lose interest and stay home.

Dems will come out when they need to.

I'm not worried about turnout yet. This is typical whenever the opposing party has not been in the White House for 8 years. Since Obama has been made the boogeyman for the past 7 1/2 years of course Republicans are eager for change, and Trump's White identity rhetoric speaks to a big part of the Republican party who have long held these feelings and now feel like they have a leader to get behind.

Nobody sane wants him for president.

Republicans have more candidates, and the huge turnouts seem to show me that the majority don't really want Trump, so they have been coming out in huge numbers to vote for the other candidates who they hope will win INSTEAD of Trump. They will continue to come out and try and get another nominee until Trump wins the nomination. When the GE comes around you won't see that huge number turning out to vote for the racist, KKK, white supremest loving blow hard named Trump.

To vote against Trump

vote against trump is a vote for sanders, since hes the one that polls consistently show mops the floor with that mop of hair.

And that was before the GOP started burning tRump:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

thats a problem. If they hate Donald but not Bernie but their hate for Hillary is much worse we'll see a Reagan win all courtesy of DWS who dragged the Democratic party to the tenth level of hell.. I do see Donald as a 4 year person because the country will be broke in 2 yrs in what it took Bush to do in 5-6 yrs. and 8 yrs for a once in a million Obama to Fix.

while Trump got less than 2,888,124 (Wikipedia just gives the total that includes Alaska, where there wasn't a Dem election).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_primaries,_2016

Yes, more people voted in the Republican elections, but they have more candidates who could win delegates, so more people turn out for it. There are many Republicans voting for someone other than Trump. And there's a fair reason to think many of them won't vote for him in the general.

Too bad too, just when we were about to have a progressive supreme court, possible democratic controlled senate, and whitehouse, then Trump wins.... yup, this country does seemingly deserve it, along with every democrat that sits out the election because they are against the nominee for something..both Hillary and Bernie supporters have said write in, or sit out.... well, I guess I will get juried, but FU to anyone who sits out. You are the ones who will get Trump in.... you live with it, I have gotten where I am disgusted with all politics, and am beginning to lean on denouncing the democrats and moving to register independent. The slamming and backstabbing on this site is appalling. Good Luck to US and to DU, because if and when we lose this election, the blame will be bernie/hillary....360 degrees......

get Trump in.

Americans are supporting Trump and Bernie because we are sick of the pay-to-play corruption that our campaign finance system thrusts upon us. Hillary is the living, breathing product and star of that corrupt system.

If we Democrats want to win, we have no choice but to nominate Bernie. He is the antithesis of the pay-to-play system that Americans are rejecting -- revolting against by supporting Trump.

Of course, money in politics is not the topic. It's not how we talk about that pay-to-play-corruption.

We talk about it in terms of our trade policy.

That is because our trade policy is the dastardly product of the pay-to-play corruption, and it is the policy that is hurting Americans where it counts -- in their paychecks.

NAFTA, CAFTA -- all the trade policies that the multinational corporations have owned us and bought us out with.

They, those trade agreements, have to go or be drastically rewritten.

The TPP is unacceptable. It will bankrupt the US.

No one should trust Hillary on the TPP. Her discussion of it is full of weasel words that will allow her to push it once and if she is president.

Trump recognizes that trade is a big issue, the issue that can draw him votes from white people who are uncomfortable about his racist language but can deal with it if it means that they can get a better job that will pay more.

The Democratic Party loves Hillary's money. It is dark money. It is dank money. It is corrupt, unhealthy money. It's Hillary's money that is buying her the loyalty and support of so many leaders in the Democratic Party. They know that Bernie is right about a lot of the policy, but Hillary has the money.

If Trump wins in November, it will be because Democrats pick Hillary and her putrid corporate money over Bernie and his people's money.

Trump check-mates Hillary and on that one issue alone.

Every other issue flows from, returns to and is overwhelmed by that issue: corrupt campaign finance.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/why-hillary-could-be-lot-more-vulnerable-trump-bernie

and I hear the opposite from Hillary supporters too... although I don't hear as much of we will sit home, I do hear it.....I wish my guy would just run....Biden/Warren 2016..

impossible to discharge student loans (and broadened the definition of them) in bankruptcy.

He will not get my vote. That is a terrible bill.

Donald Trump can take several companies into bankruptcy and harm his creditors yet continue in business in other corporations.

But some kid who got snookered into signing up for a student loan to attend some fraudulent college can't discharge the debt in Bankruptcy Court.

That's Biden's legacy.

He can't win.

are our enemies as much as the GOP

We are already toast with numbers like these

The GOP is having a public food fight and we're bashing one another over the heads
and tearing our candidates to pieces

That Congress, that GOP Congress is our real enemy

would be much, much, much lower. It would be a joke.

That means that voting for Hillary is not a big enough thrill to get voters to turn out.

Now let's look at Bernie and his voters.

A lot of them are young. They are loyal to Bernie, not so much to the Democratic Party.

If our Party nominates Hillary, a good portion of the Bernie voters (including me) will not vote for her. I will get out and vote for the other Democrats on my ballot, but most of the young, especially the first-time Bernie voters, will not. They simply won't bother to vote.

Hillary is not going to attract the Bernie voters.

Something to think about.

As a Bernie supporter, I think this is a strong reason to nominate Bernie and vote for him in the primaries and caucuses. He brings out HIS voters. Hillary voters will switch to Bernie if he is the candidate.

But if Hillary is the candidate, a lot of the Bernie voters will simply stay home. And we will have a Republican in the White House..

In addition to the reasons stated in this article, it simply makes sense to vote for and nominate Bernie if we want a Democrat in the White House come November.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/why-hillary-could-be-lot-more-vulnerable-trump-bernie

For the republicans that means a candidate that will harm them more. The "party of stupid" wants more stupid.

….that HRC is too weak a candidate to win this for the Democrats.

What the hell was the DNC thinking?

we don't. Bernie is in there but was always a long shot. It's not the same at all and not the same as the general.

Because the DNC isn't interested in encouraging anyone who isn't going to support their choice of nominee to vote.

On Super Tuesday contests were won by Sanders or Clinton by 20 or more points. Polls predicted it- so people didn't vote. In states where polls were close, turnout was usually just fine - i.e. Massachusetts

Wonderful.