Why did Americans vote for Republicans?
November 5, 2014 4:25 PM Subscribe
I see America voted for a Republican Senate. I don't get it. Sure, Obama hasn't lived up to liberal hopes, but I can't figure out the Republican world view. I'm Canadian. Can you explain what drives the right in America?
I know this might be inflammatory, but I genuinely don't want it to be. I'd be very interested in hearing from swing voters who went from Democrat to Republican.
The press sees this as a referendum on Obama. And, the way I see it, Obama has been pretty good--and many of his failures can be chalked up to the split House and Republican intransigence. He's:
• Got America (mostly) out of dumb foreign wars
• Put the economy (mostly) on track
• (Mostly) Set up a first-world health care system
• Been (somewhat) sympathetic to the environment
So I don't see why Obama got such a drubbing.
And, the way I see it, the Republican Party wants to undo those things in favour of... well... I'm not quite sure what. I would love to hear.
Genuinely, Americans, what's going on down there? What motivated you to move rightward?
I know this might be inflammatory, but I genuinely don't want it to be. I'd be very interested in hearing from swing voters who went from Democrat to Republican.
The press sees this as a referendum on Obama. And, the way I see it, Obama has been pretty good--and many of his failures can be chalked up to the split House and Republican intransigence. He's:
• Got America (mostly) out of dumb foreign wars
• Put the economy (mostly) on track
• (Mostly) Set up a first-world health care system
• Been (somewhat) sympathetic to the environment
So I don't see why Obama got such a drubbing.
And, the way I see it, the Republican Party wants to undo those things in favour of... well... I'm not quite sure what. I would love to hear.
Genuinely, Americans, what's going on down there? What motivated you to move rightward?
This post was deleted for the following reason: Heya, this is kind of open-ended chatty and "here's my theory" to be something that's really gonna work well on Ask. -- cortex
Adding to what michaelh said about turn-out: Young voters and minorities trend heavily Democratic, and they also don't turn out to vote in midterm elections as much as the Republican-leaning demographics.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:35 PM on November 5, 2014
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:35 PM on November 5, 2014
I saw a disappointing amount of left-wing people in my area not vote because they don't feel Obama and the Democrats have done enough to support their ideology. I live in North Carolina, where our Democratic senator was mostly expected to hold her seat until the very end when the race tightened. She ultimately lost by only about 50,000 votes. I have to think those disenchanted liberals who stayed home were a major factor there.
If you're asking why people vote Republican in the first place: Leaving the social issues out of it, many Republicans are concerned about the fiscal policies of the United States and especially our national debt, and feel that Democrats overtax and overspend. The reasonable conservatives with whom I am friends seem to share that as their primary concern, anyway.
posted by something something at 4:38 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
If you're asking why people vote Republican in the first place: Leaving the social issues out of it, many Republicans are concerned about the fiscal policies of the United States and especially our national debt, and feel that Democrats overtax and overspend. The reasonable conservatives with whom I am friends seem to share that as their primary concern, anyway.
posted by something something at 4:38 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Most of the states that went Republican are states where the local Democratic senator had been elected decades ago, when the political landscape was very different from how it is now. (Example: in the 70s, Arkansas had a Democratic governor, Bill Clinton.)
It also really is a pervasive meme here (in the original Dawkinsian sense, not the Buzzfeed sense) that Obama has dropped the ball. Personally, as someone who has been an Obama supporter since the time of his 2004 DNC speech, I do not agree with that view, but it's spouted so often in the media that I think people just take it as axiomatic without actually thinking about it much. There's also the fact that a lot of people are stupid and expected waaaaayyyyy too much from Obama's presidency.
In addition to all that, to an extent it's just a swing of the American political pendulum. This election reminded me of the 2006 midterms, but in reverse.
posted by Sara C. at 4:41 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
It also really is a pervasive meme here (in the original Dawkinsian sense, not the Buzzfeed sense) that Obama has dropped the ball. Personally, as someone who has been an Obama supporter since the time of his 2004 DNC speech, I do not agree with that view, but it's spouted so often in the media that I think people just take it as axiomatic without actually thinking about it much. There's also the fact that a lot of people are stupid and expected waaaaayyyyy too much from Obama's presidency.
In addition to all that, to an extent it's just a swing of the American political pendulum. This election reminded me of the 2006 midterms, but in reverse.
posted by Sara C. at 4:41 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
I'm a democrat in a sea of republicans. I will say that our votes were pretty dang close. Our senatorial race was only 2 points away from having to be a run-off.
People feel that President Obama didn't fulfill his promise. (I disagree.) I guess they expected something better. Many people have a real loathing of Obamacare (I disagree.) They believe that the government is forcing people into healthcare they can't afford, and that other taxpayers are subsidizing.
It's a fundamental difference in what we believe that government should do for us. Conservatives believe that government should be limited, and that each citizen should be responsible for him or herself. Liberals believe that government should step in and do for citizens what they cannot do for themselves.
I'm really unclear what about saving the US from a depression, implementing universal healthcare and extracting us from war is so odious to half of the population. Some think Obama didn't do enough, some think he's spending us into a terrible amount of debt. Either way, there's dissatisfaction.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:44 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
People feel that President Obama didn't fulfill his promise. (I disagree.) I guess they expected something better. Many people have a real loathing of Obamacare (I disagree.) They believe that the government is forcing people into healthcare they can't afford, and that other taxpayers are subsidizing.
It's a fundamental difference in what we believe that government should do for us. Conservatives believe that government should be limited, and that each citizen should be responsible for him or herself. Liberals believe that government should step in and do for citizens what they cannot do for themselves.
I'm really unclear what about saving the US from a depression, implementing universal healthcare and extracting us from war is so odious to half of the population. Some think Obama didn't do enough, some think he's spending us into a terrible amount of debt. Either way, there's dissatisfaction.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:44 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
As someone in a swing state, I would also suggest that most people don't vote based on facts, but on how they feel. The economy is still crappy (it doesn't matter who put it there); the middle and working class are still running to stand still (and it doesn't matter why); and it's terrifying to get old. Facts just don't matter in U.S. politics and in media narratives. People think/believe/feel that the deficit is a problem, when in fact it's been massively reduced by the Democrats (even though it really doesn't matter in the slightest).
To pick up on something something's point, I'm a liberal, and massively disappointed in the Democratic party. I voted with my nose firmly held.
Between the gerrymandering, campaign financing, election laws, participation rates, etc, American democracy is not as robust as it likes to think it is.
posted by idb at 4:45 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
To pick up on something something's point, I'm a liberal, and massively disappointed in the Democratic party. I voted with my nose firmly held.
Between the gerrymandering, campaign financing, election laws, participation rates, etc, American democracy is not as robust as it likes to think it is.
posted by idb at 4:45 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
This is a roundabout way of answering your question, but Randy Newman wrote a song called "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" that, for my money, sums up the attitude of many (not most) working class people in this country. In short:
"if I make nice with the rich peeps, and admire, them, they'll treat me just like one of them! Just wait, I'll soon be among their ranks! Ain't nothin' holding' me back!"
To vastly oversimplify: it's a case of over-identifying with employers and the wealthy, in the mistaken hope that their lot can also become yours, cuz, hey, this here's America.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:45 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
"if I make nice with the rich peeps, and admire, them, they'll treat me just like one of them! Just wait, I'll soon be among their ranks! Ain't nothin' holding' me back!"
To vastly oversimplify: it's a case of over-identifying with employers and the wealthy, in the mistaken hope that their lot can also become yours, cuz, hey, this here's America.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:45 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
I am not American, but this chart of voter turnout split by voter age may be informative. Which I saw here, and for which I do not vouch.
posted by pompomtom at 4:46 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by pompomtom at 4:46 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
There are myriad reasons why this happened:
1.The USA has been moving rightward, in general, for the last 40 years or so.
2. Democratic strength in this country is largely in the urban areas, but America is still mostly a country of small towns and rural areas. When voter participation is smaller, the rural Republican vote carries more sway.
3. These were midterm elections, and midterm elections are notorious for small turnouts. The voters who do turn out tend to be older and whiter than in presidential year elections (read more conservative).
4. The numbers favored the Republicans from jump street - Democratic incumbents had more seats to defend and, thus, more to lose.
5. Americans have a history of zig-zagging and "throwing the bums out" during midterms.
6. I'd also argue - though many would disagree - that good ol' racism played a role, too.
I believe you'll see a quite different result in 2016.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 4:46 PM on November 5, 2014
1.The USA has been moving rightward, in general, for the last 40 years or so.
2. Democratic strength in this country is largely in the urban areas, but America is still mostly a country of small towns and rural areas. When voter participation is smaller, the rural Republican vote carries more sway.
3. These were midterm elections, and midterm elections are notorious for small turnouts. The voters who do turn out tend to be older and whiter than in presidential year elections (read more conservative).
4. The numbers favored the Republicans from jump street - Democratic incumbents had more seats to defend and, thus, more to lose.
5. Americans have a history of zig-zagging and "throwing the bums out" during midterms.
6. I'd also argue - though many would disagree - that good ol' racism played a role, too.
I believe you'll see a quite different result in 2016.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 4:46 PM on November 5, 2014
I am a Republican. What drives most of the Right in America (or at least the ones I've known) is simple: we believe in moral absolutes. So when it comes to many social issues, our decisions (guided by those absolutes, which usually come from religious beliefs) are inflexible.
If God says that something is wrong, I believe that it is now and will always be wrong. Having sex with someone I am not married to is sinful, for example. So when an issue is brought for a vote, we vote accordingly. Things are black and white, not shades of grey.
The real question I believe you are asking is what made people vote against Obama. Some have disliked him from the beginning. Others have become disenfranchised over the past six years because so many scandals have been handled poorly and so many promises have been reneged on. And some just don't think his stance on moral issues (see above) are good for this country. I believe that this election wasn't a case of supporting Republicans, but more a case of opposing an administration that has very low approval numbers.
posted by tacodave at 4:48 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
If God says that something is wrong, I believe that it is now and will always be wrong. Having sex with someone I am not married to is sinful, for example. So when an issue is brought for a vote, we vote accordingly. Things are black and white, not shades of grey.
The real question I believe you are asking is what made people vote against Obama. Some have disliked him from the beginning. Others have become disenfranchised over the past six years because so many scandals have been handled poorly and so many promises have been reneged on. And some just don't think his stance on moral issues (see above) are good for this country. I believe that this election wasn't a case of supporting Republicans, but more a case of opposing an administration that has very low approval numbers.
posted by tacodave at 4:48 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's not that a bunch of Americans decided to vote for Republicans instead of Democrats this year, it's that the people who vote for Republicans showed up to vote more.
A better question would be why voter turnout was so low among Democratic voters this year?
posted by Jacqueline at 4:49 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
A better question would be why voter turnout was so low among Democratic voters this year?
posted by Jacqueline at 4:49 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
I think it's partly a swing of the pendulum. I think it's partly that a lot of middle-class people feel that they're really struggling and that Obama's policies haven't really improved their lives. In my state, there's a real sense in which people feel whipsawed by change, and the Republicans say that change can be arrested and America can be returned to the way it used to be. Also, outside groups poured a huge amount of money into this election, and things got really ugly very early on. I think they successfully gave voters an unfair, negative impression of the Democrat, and in general the negativity may have caused some apathy among people who are unlikely to vote, and those people are disproportionately Democrats.
I don't think that the country has really moved that far rightward. In my state, when people were polled on the issues, they sided with the Democratic senatorial hopeful on many more issues than with the Republican. I don't think this election was really about issues, at least not in my state.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:50 PM on November 5, 2014
I don't think that the country has really moved that far rightward. In my state, when people were polled on the issues, they sided with the Democratic senatorial hopeful on many more issues than with the Republican. I don't think this election was really about issues, at least not in my state.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:50 PM on November 5, 2014
I'm no political scientist, but it seems like Republicans do better in midterm elections. Young people or people who aren't super engaged in politics have a very flawed approach in only paying attention during presidential election years. People don't seem to realize that without the cooperation of the Senate or even the House, the President can't pass much of his agenda. I think it's probably a lot easier for the average person to be engaged in a race between two (maybe three) people for one single job that the entire country is talking about.
That said, anytime a party is in power, inevitably people will decide they aren't happy or haven't noticed progress and things will sway the other way. Part of that could be "independent" (non-partisan) voters switching sides and part of it could be a partisan base feeling more or less energized after years of being in power or out of power. So, the Democrats had control of the Senate for a while and it was a surprise they didn't forfeit the majority in 2010. The Senate was overdue to change hands, quite frankly, even as much as it pains me to see.
(Part of the reason Dems were able to weather that storm in 2010 was an influx of extreme/crappy tea party candidates like Sharron Angle for the Repubs. On that note, you could argue Republicans put up strong candidates this year. After all, the political climate matters, but it isn't everything -- good candidates count too.)
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:51 PM on November 5, 2014
That said, anytime a party is in power, inevitably people will decide they aren't happy or haven't noticed progress and things will sway the other way. Part of that could be "independent" (non-partisan) voters switching sides and part of it could be a partisan base feeling more or less energized after years of being in power or out of power. So, the Democrats had control of the Senate for a while and it was a surprise they didn't forfeit the majority in 2010. The Senate was overdue to change hands, quite frankly, even as much as it pains me to see.
(Part of the reason Dems were able to weather that storm in 2010 was an influx of extreme/crappy tea party candidates like Sharron Angle for the Repubs. On that note, you could argue Republicans put up strong candidates this year. After all, the political climate matters, but it isn't everything -- good candidates count too.)
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:51 PM on November 5, 2014
Most Republicans I know are Republican because either
a) they believe very strongly in conservative social issues, or
b) they believe very strongly that Republicans enact policies and legislation that are favorable to businesses, and that this will directly benefit them economically, either because they are business owners themselves or because they invest their money in stocks etc
That's it. No big mystery.
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:51 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
a) they believe very strongly in conservative social issues, or
b) they believe very strongly that Republicans enact policies and legislation that are favorable to businesses, and that this will directly benefit them economically, either because they are business owners themselves or because they invest their money in stocks etc
That's it. No big mystery.
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:51 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
There is a LOT of unhappiness about the way that the health plan rolled out, and a LOT of media spin about other issues.
Also, to address some of your points point-by-point:
many of [Obama's] failures can be chalked up to the split House and Republican intransigence.
Right, but the average yutz on the street doesn't always remember that. I think maybe the disconnect here is that we have something that looks like a parliamentarian system, but it isn't. We elect our president directly, even though it's the congress who does most of the legwork. It isn't like how (if I remember correctly) the Canadian system works, where you elect the party and you get the prime minister as part of the deal whether you like the actual guy helming the majority party or not.
So we have a system where the only one big election which everyone in the country participates in is the one for president. The congressional races, even though they also affect everyone in the country, are only decided upon by people within a congressman's given state (i.e., only people who live in Florida can vote for the Florida senator). And what THAT means is that unless a particular congressman does something truly powerful, dramatic, or stupid, it's only the people in their own state who are really keeping an eye on them, and the rest of the country is sort of blithely ignoring them. The only person in the government which every single person is keeping their eye on is the president himself.
And that means that the presidents' partisan identity is over-emphasized in the average person's mind. They don't know too much about their own congressman - but they know the president's a Democrat, and they don't like how the president's been doing things, so that must mean Democrats are bad, ergo....
And some other points about what Obama's done:
Got America (mostly) out of dumb foreign wars
Yeah, you'd be surprised how many people just haven't really been bothered by us being in the foreign wars in the first place. Gotta Protect Our Freedomz (tm), after all.
Put the economy (mostly) on track
Unfortunately, because Obama happened to be in charge when it tanked in the first place, he will forever be blamed for it happening. Even though it wasn't his fault, even though the policies that created it were all due to groundwork laid by his predecessors - since he was in charge, people still blame him. Any fixes to the economy must be someone else's doing, since he was the guy that messed it up in the first place, darnit.
(Mostly) Set up a first-world health care system
Which a looooooooooooot of people here still hate. Irrationally so, yes, and you'd be hard-pressed to get them to explain why they hate it, but they hate it.
Been (somewhat) sympathetic to the environment
This, too, is something people have an issue with - whether it's because "he's blocked oil pipelines that could have created jobs!" to "he's stopped mining that could have created jobs!" to "he's stopped [insert environmental-destroying thing here] that could have created jobs!" Also, there are those for whom the whole notion of "environmental activism" just smacks of being a super-lefty liberal thing - the kind of situation where one environmental action is the first step on a slippery slope to everyone having to drive foreign electric cars and being forced into gay marriages and eating nothing but kale and not being allowed to celebrate Christmas. (I am not exaggerating as much as you think I am.)
Also, do not underestimate the degree to which some people's racism affects their politics.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:57 PM on November 5, 2014 [5 favorites]
Also, to address some of your points point-by-point:
many of [Obama's] failures can be chalked up to the split House and Republican intransigence.
Right, but the average yutz on the street doesn't always remember that. I think maybe the disconnect here is that we have something that looks like a parliamentarian system, but it isn't. We elect our president directly, even though it's the congress who does most of the legwork. It isn't like how (if I remember correctly) the Canadian system works, where you elect the party and you get the prime minister as part of the deal whether you like the actual guy helming the majority party or not.
So we have a system where the only one big election which everyone in the country participates in is the one for president. The congressional races, even though they also affect everyone in the country, are only decided upon by people within a congressman's given state (i.e., only people who live in Florida can vote for the Florida senator). And what THAT means is that unless a particular congressman does something truly powerful, dramatic, or stupid, it's only the people in their own state who are really keeping an eye on them, and the rest of the country is sort of blithely ignoring them. The only person in the government which every single person is keeping their eye on is the president himself.
And that means that the presidents' partisan identity is over-emphasized in the average person's mind. They don't know too much about their own congressman - but they know the president's a Democrat, and they don't like how the president's been doing things, so that must mean Democrats are bad, ergo....
And some other points about what Obama's done:
Got America (mostly) out of dumb foreign wars
Yeah, you'd be surprised how many people just haven't really been bothered by us being in the foreign wars in the first place. Gotta Protect Our Freedomz (tm), after all.
Put the economy (mostly) on track
Unfortunately, because Obama happened to be in charge when it tanked in the first place, he will forever be blamed for it happening. Even though it wasn't his fault, even though the policies that created it were all due to groundwork laid by his predecessors - since he was in charge, people still blame him. Any fixes to the economy must be someone else's doing, since he was the guy that messed it up in the first place, darnit.
(Mostly) Set up a first-world health care system
Which a looooooooooooot of people here still hate. Irrationally so, yes, and you'd be hard-pressed to get them to explain why they hate it, but they hate it.
Been (somewhat) sympathetic to the environment
This, too, is something people have an issue with - whether it's because "he's blocked oil pipelines that could have created jobs!" to "he's stopped mining that could have created jobs!" to "he's stopped [insert environmental-destroying thing here] that could have created jobs!" Also, there are those for whom the whole notion of "environmental activism" just smacks of being a super-lefty liberal thing - the kind of situation where one environmental action is the first step on a slippery slope to everyone having to drive foreign electric cars and being forced into gay marriages and eating nothing but kale and not being allowed to celebrate Christmas. (I am not exaggerating as much as you think I am.)
Also, do not underestimate the degree to which some people's racism affects their politics.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:57 PM on November 5, 2014 [5 favorites]
I could critique the HURF DURF RACIST IDIOT REPUBLICANS-type responses you're likely to get here, but I'm not sure how it'd be possible to answer this question intelligently at all, given that you're asking for a three-paragraph synopsis of the entire, enormous, complex ideological universe that is (not even pro-Republican!) but "not-pro-Democrats." There are just as many reasons to be right-wing (or centrist, or libertarian, or whatever is not pro-Obama) as there are to be left-wing. Some of them are smart, and some of them are stupid. There are plenty of political blogs that can clue you into right-wing reasoning of all stripes. But for starters, I would say that of your synopsis of Obama's achievements:
• Got America (mostly) out of dumb foreign wars
• Put the economy (mostly) on track
• (Mostly) Set up a first-world health care system
• Been (somewhat) sympathetic to the environment
every word I've italicized is something that would be regarded as entirely debatable by someone holding non-leftist views. To say, "Obama is awesome, how could anyone not vote for his party??" seems kind of like saying, "Obvs. God doesn't exist, so how can anybody be Catholic??" or "Since global warming is a fiction, how could anybody be in favor of cap-and-trade??" To begin to get any grip on the answer, you pretty much need to revisit the question.
posted by yersinia at 5:00 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
• Got America (mostly) out of dumb foreign wars
• Put the economy (mostly) on track
• (Mostly) Set up a first-world health care system
• Been (somewhat) sympathetic to the environment
every word I've italicized is something that would be regarded as entirely debatable by someone holding non-leftist views. To say, "Obama is awesome, how could anyone not vote for his party??" seems kind of like saying, "Obvs. God doesn't exist, so how can anybody be Catholic??" or "Since global warming is a fiction, how could anybody be in favor of cap-and-trade??" To begin to get any grip on the answer, you pretty much need to revisit the question.
posted by yersinia at 5:00 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Conservative groups and candidates spend more money on campaigning, which translates into more conservatives going to vote. This election was the most expensive election in history. The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court said that organizations cannot be restricted on how much money they can spend on a campaign; this was not always true. Corporate America has lots of money to spend.
posted by desjardins at 5:01 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by desjardins at 5:01 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
A major element in this trend is that large-scale disinformation and propaganda seem to become more and more effective every year. The example which stands out in my mind is that a couple of years ago at Christmas my uncle was lamenting a sharp reduction in his take-home pay, which he blamed on President Obama.
But when I looked into it, I'm pretty sure what he experienced was the expiration of a cut in payroll taxes with Obama had put in place, which couldn't be renewed due to Republican opposition. So one way or another Republican PR efforts succeeded in getting the blame for something they themselves had done placed on Obama, and got credited as the fiscally responsible party who will lower your taxes in my uncle's view even though what they'd done there is to have actually increased his taxes.
On a deeper level, though — I heard a factoid on an analysis show that I haven't been able to confirm yet which said that since WWII, every second-term president of either party whose own party has held the upper hand in the legislature at the point of the sixth year / second-term mid-term elections has lost this way. If that's true, it seems like just another indicator of the stability of the two-party system, where political players and their employers have locked down the democratic system in ways that allow them to pass power and elected offices back and forth between themselves in fairly predictable and low-risk ways that will never upset the status quo.
posted by XMLicious at 5:03 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
But when I looked into it, I'm pretty sure what he experienced was the expiration of a cut in payroll taxes with Obama had put in place, which couldn't be renewed due to Republican opposition. So one way or another Republican PR efforts succeeded in getting the blame for something they themselves had done placed on Obama, and got credited as the fiscally responsible party who will lower your taxes in my uncle's view even though what they'd done there is to have actually increased his taxes.
On a deeper level, though — I heard a factoid on an analysis show that I haven't been able to confirm yet which said that since WWII, every second-term president of either party whose own party has held the upper hand in the legislature at the point of the sixth year / second-term mid-term elections has lost this way. If that's true, it seems like just another indicator of the stability of the two-party system, where political players and their employers have locked down the democratic system in ways that allow them to pass power and elected offices back and forth between themselves in fairly predictable and low-risk ways that will never upset the status quo.
posted by XMLicious at 5:03 PM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
also, speaking as a Democrat -
Okay, I've got mixed feelings about Obama's record, but I acknowledge he had a crap hand. I'm actually more disappointed with all of the other Democrats in the congress, who seem to be a bunch of lackluster milquetoasts with maybe one exception (I heart Elizabeth Warren, a congresswoman from Massachusetts). So while I voted Democrat in a lot of races, my heart really wasn't in it, and I was more voting against someone than I was voting for someone; it was a lesser-of-two-evils situation. The only case where I didn't was for Governor, where I just couldn't vote for my incumbent governor and I ended up voting for the Green Party candidate.
Oh, that may be another reason - even though there are alternate-parties here, in the minds of most they're all people who wouldn't have a chance in hell, so we all really only have two choices for each race. So basically, for each congressional race, we are choosing to either keep the guy we got or replace him with the other guy. So if you didn't like what your congress person was doing and wanted to get rid of him, you only had the one other option.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:05 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Okay, I've got mixed feelings about Obama's record, but I acknowledge he had a crap hand. I'm actually more disappointed with all of the other Democrats in the congress, who seem to be a bunch of lackluster milquetoasts with maybe one exception (I heart Elizabeth Warren, a congresswoman from Massachusetts). So while I voted Democrat in a lot of races, my heart really wasn't in it, and I was more voting against someone than I was voting for someone; it was a lesser-of-two-evils situation. The only case where I didn't was for Governor, where I just couldn't vote for my incumbent governor and I ended up voting for the Green Party candidate.
Oh, that may be another reason - even though there are alternate-parties here, in the minds of most they're all people who wouldn't have a chance in hell, so we all really only have two choices for each race. So basically, for each congressional race, we are choosing to either keep the guy we got or replace him with the other guy. So if you didn't like what your congress person was doing and wanted to get rid of him, you only had the one other option.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:05 PM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Despite Democrats having control of the Senate, there hasn't been much accomplished recently, which people are pretty disappointed by. For example, the Affordable Care Act is one of the only major legislative accomplishments during the Obama administration, and since it was passed, Republicans have put forward legislation over 50 times to either repeal, defund, or otherwise knock it off track, meanwhile not much else has been getting done, as far as most can see, to benefit the American people.
In the meantime, Obama has been doing a lot of things that have disappointed the progressive base. His stances on the drug war, a lot of foreign policy issues, net neutrality, civil liberties, etc have made many of the libertarian leaning progressives that I know angry. What his appointees have chosen to pursue and some of who the appointees are. Personally, I care more about reproductive rights, women's issues, the environment, marriage equality/GLBTQ rights, etc and so I haven't been quite as up in arms because I see him as doing decently well in these areas, but still, there are many who are upset and I do agree that it's been quite a letdown from that perspective.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the States, as far as I can tell, are INCENSED by this presidency. I can't quite explain the level of hate against Obama (I do think race plays a role but it's so hard to say), but I frequently see people posting or speaking about this administration in incredibly negative terms, i.e. worst presidency ever, Obamacare is making a mockery of the constitution and will destroy our country, etc. I've seen people sharing or carrying photos of Obama with a Hitler mustache numerous times. Yeah, I don't get it. But I know that many Republicans believe that if they vote in more of their candidates, they may actually achieve goals such as reining in spending, smaller government, etc even though mostly what the Republicans have been running on are social issues and they actually haven't been doing/saying a lot about decreasing spending or smaller government. As you probably know, gun rights and the 2nd amendment are also seen as huge issues amongst a large proportion of our population and Obama and Democrats are felt to be on the wrong side of this issue by promoting most any form of gun control legislation. The religious right has been able to pass a ridiculous number of state-level laws against reproductive rights lately as well and they have momentum on that, it appears. So folks turned out to vote basically against Obama and against Democratic platform issues, in my opinion, and folks did not turn out because they are disappointed with Obama and Democrats. Plus there were a lot, a lot of really uninspiring Democratic candidates, I'm sorry to say.
As far as the dumb foreign wars thing, people in the United States just don't feel that way about it. They are generally in favor of foreign military action, for example most recently against ISIS. People love the idea that we are the greatest nation in the world who will spread democracy near and far and bring justice to every corner of the world and all that jazz. Again, not my personal view, I'm from the "every warship launched... signifies a theft from those who hunger and are not fed" school of thought.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 5:12 PM on November 5, 2014
In the meantime, Obama has been doing a lot of things that have disappointed the progressive base. His stances on the drug war, a lot of foreign policy issues, net neutrality, civil liberties, etc have made many of the libertarian leaning progressives that I know angry. What his appointees have chosen to pursue and some of who the appointees are. Personally, I care more about reproductive rights, women's issues, the environment, marriage equality/GLBTQ rights, etc and so I haven't been quite as up in arms because I see him as doing decently well in these areas, but still, there are many who are upset and I do agree that it's been quite a letdown from that perspective.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the States, as far as I can tell, are INCENSED by this presidency. I can't quite explain the level of hate against Obama (I do think race plays a role but it's so hard to say), but I frequently see people posting or speaking about this administration in incredibly negative terms, i.e. worst presidency ever, Obamacare is making a mockery of the constitution and will destroy our country, etc. I've seen people sharing or carrying photos of Obama with a Hitler mustache numerous times. Yeah, I don't get it. But I know that many Republicans believe that if they vote in more of their candidates, they may actually achieve goals such as reining in spending, smaller government, etc even though mostly what the Republicans have been running on are social issues and they actually haven't been doing/saying a lot about decreasing spending or smaller government. As you probably know, gun rights and the 2nd amendment are also seen as huge issues amongst a large proportion of our population and Obama and Democrats are felt to be on the wrong side of this issue by promoting most any form of gun control legislation. The religious right has been able to pass a ridiculous number of state-level laws against reproductive rights lately as well and they have momentum on that, it appears. So folks turned out to vote basically against Obama and against Democratic platform issues, in my opinion, and folks did not turn out because they are disappointed with Obama and Democrats. Plus there were a lot, a lot of really uninspiring Democratic candidates, I'm sorry to say.
As far as the dumb foreign wars thing, people in the United States just don't feel that way about it. They are generally in favor of foreign military action, for example most recently against ISIS. People love the idea that we are the greatest nation in the world who will spread democracy near and far and bring justice to every corner of the world and all that jazz. Again, not my personal view, I'm from the "every warship launched... signifies a theft from those who hunger and are not fed" school of thought.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 5:12 PM on November 5, 2014
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posted by michaelh at 4:32 PM on November 5, 2014 [7 favorites]