Obama Supporters are Idiots »
By Josh Druce on Jul 18, 2007 in Politics, From Josh | 1 Comment
Fun fact for the day: The number of times that the pope has had sex is equal to (or greater than) the number of times that Barack Obama has served in a executive function!
One of the problems with telephone polls is that polling “likely voters” means asking people if they plan on voting. Unfortunately, this creates a very large, and very well published bias. Even the day after elections when people are polled and they’re asked if they voted, 96% of the people polled say yes. While in reality, only about 2/3 of the American public is registered to vote.
Consider this - if you were to have called up Paris Hilton before the last presidential election and asked her if she was planning on voting, she would have slurred something about vote or die, but it turns out that she ended up forgetting to vote. These numbers were taken from the United States Election Assistance Commission.
Age - Percentage of Total US Vote:
18-20 - 3.21%
21-24 - 4.41%
25-44 - 39.08%
45-64 - 32.96%
65+ - 20.34%
Obama polls extraordinarily well in young voters. If the president was decided by American Idol voters, Obama would likely sweep. But, as the numbers show, 18-24 year olds do not influence elections. Well except for this guy. Also, people in the 18-24 year old group tend to vote in the same proportions as their parents. While current polls show that Obama is doing well, the actual votes will be a different matter.
Voting is a pain in the ass for younger demographics. They are busier. Having worked at polling places for multiple campaigns, I know that old people love to vote. They look forward to it. They plan for it. It means they get to ride the bus and get out of the retirement home for a little bit. In Chicago, old people are so into voting that they’ll vote for years, even after they’re dead. Also the elderly are more dependent on government services than any other demographic. Ergo, they have more at stake than any other demographic in the elections, and are more personally involved.
Obama also has some serious cultural attitudes that he won’t be able to overcome with the elderly. One of them obviously being his race, but also his attitude and polices. While I appreciate his candor, my grandmother, a very accepting, open minded individual, will never vote for a candidate that has admitted to using cocaine, regardless of the circumstances.
Polls this early in the game are also immensely inaccurate. Consider how fast McCain has fallen off and Thompson has risen into glory. If there is one thing that I can count on from the American public, it’s that whoever is popular now, will definitely not be in 18 months.
Presidents don’t get elected because of one good speech.
Obama does not only have a lack of experience, he also seems to have a lack of substance. Obama has pledged to keep his campagin clean, and above board, which is nice. It’s refreshing, and it would be beautiful if it worked, but it won’t. This is America, and Obama has spent most of his life in higher education or working in non-profits, and it shows. He does not have a personality that Americans are willing to elect as their commander in chief.
Let me put it another way:
John Kerry served two tours in Vietnam and recieved three purple hearts because, as one does before they recieve a purple heart, he was injured in battle - three times. He eventually acheived the rank of lieutenant. Despite all of this, the Bush campaign still managed to convince enough Americans that Kerry was too soft to run the military. Convincing the American public that Obama would be too soft would be a little bit easier than painting Rosie O’Donnell as fat and obnoxious.
Senators don’t get elected. I don’t know if I’m willing to make a whole post on why they don’t since this topic has been beaten like the LA Clippers but its true. Senators do not get elected president.
Here’s someone with more free time than me with an explanation.
if you don’t have access to ProQuest check out a summary here.
Obama is also too liberal. Remember when Dean imploded? We remember when it happened because we heard the infamous scream, but the scream wasn’t what brought him down. It was electability. Dean was too far left, and the democrats didn’t think he would be able to get elected. Regardless of how much they liked him personally, they would have preferred voting for someone that they weren’t in love with that would appeal to more moderate voters, rather than someone they loved but was too far left, allowing someone that they hated (Bush) to get reelected. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. The last time a Democrat got elected president, it was done by a relativly unknown governor of a small southern state with a lot of charisma. If I was a betting man (which I am) I would place my money on another charismatic governor of a small southern state (which I did.)
But Josh, what about all that cash he has?
Good point, guy that speaks in italics. Money does decide elections, but its not the only thing. For evidence, look at Forbes, Perot, and Maria Heinz. Perot did make amazing progress, and he deserves his page in the history books, but he didn’t get elected.
Please don’t get all of this bashing wrong. I don’t dislike Obama. I’m glad he’s running. Hopefully he’ll be able to force the other candidates to deal with some new issues (Hopefully because he hasn’t done so yet). Hopefully he’ll be able to provide a new perspective on some of the current topics (Hopefully because he hasn’t done so yet).
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