Pathetic 36% Voter Turnout Should Not Be Defined As A "Republican Wave Election."
It's official. Only a pitiful 36.4% of eligible voters bothered to show up at the polls last week. The lowest voter turnout in an election since 1942. (And with the country in the middle of a war, we had an excuse for that.) What was our excuse this time? Somebody should find out.
The Bad News: The Democrats failed miserably at turning out their voter base last week, and allowed a tiny handful of Fox News watching, Limbaugh-loving, cranky xenophobes; nearly 40% of whom were over the age of 60, to determine the election results on a single issue. That issue being how much they hate Barack Obama. (Congratulations. What you voted FOR was a thumb in Barack Obama's eye. What you're about to GET is chained CPI, and privatized Medicare.)
The Good News: This pathetic voter turnout robs the Republicans of their ability to call this a "sweep," a "wave election," or an "overwhelming mandate." Obama, in his signature passive-aggressive style, was the first to point this out in his concession speech. When he said "To the two thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you too" Republican heads exploded, because they knew he had just broadcast to the world how shallow their "victory" was.
In his post-election press conference, President Obama mentioned in his opening remarks, “[T]o everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too.”
Republicans were furious. By noting that two-thirds of the public didn’t bother to show up for the midterm elections, the president was subtly suggesting the Republicans’ victories were less impressive.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-turnout-statistic-republicans-hate-most
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