Quote:
Originally Posted by Warf Rat
...and by the the way he also looks like the President who just recieved the most votes in electoral history, and also won by the largest margin since Reagan (I think)...
|
Think again. As a % of electoral votes both Bush (HW) (vs. Dukakis) and Clinton (both vs. Bush (HW) and Dole) had much wider margins with 79.18%, 68.77%, and 70.45% respectively compared to Bush's (W) (potential, since they have not officially been cast yet) 53.16% in 2004. And, while it may be true that Bush (W) is the first President to win with over 50% of the popular vote in recent years (since his father beat Dukakis actually with 53.37%), the % by which he won is by the slimmest margin since Carter beat Ford in 1976 (Carter won by only 2% in the popular vote).
And, just as a personal note, I am already sick of hearing how Bush won with the most popular votes of any presidential candidate ever (Kerry holds the record for the loser with the most votes). So more people voted in this election then ever before, this just goes to show how deeply divided the political landscape has become. The high voter turnout might also be attributed (at least in part) to the fact that we have a higher national population today then at any other time in our country’s history. This will be another one of those “statistics” that republican rhetoricians will be banging on for the next four years, but when taken in context has no real significant meaning.
(all statistical data from:
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/ )