Ohio GOP sweep tied to low Democratic voter turn out

A report released by the University of Akron’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics maps out the Republican sweep of Ohio statewide offices and the open US Senate seat in 2010. The report, which includes maps, show the percentages of votes and turn out compared to the results in 2006. The numbers show that the turn out by Democrats was much lower in 2010 and that helped the GOP with their sweep.

“The pendulum has swung, this time in favor of Ohio Republicans,” John Green, Bliss Institute director, said in a press release. “Low voter turnout across the board and a poorly performing state economy contributed significantly to the 2010 Ohio Republican sweep.”

Akron U report maps GOP wins in November; contrasts results with 2006

It is clear that there was less voter turnout in 2010 than 2006 in almost every county. The East-West pattern emerges again in this map. There was, in general, less of a drop in voter turnout in the Republican-leaning western regions of the state as opposed to the Democratic-leaning eastern regions of the state. This indicates that Democratic-leaning counties had less-enthused voters compared to those counties that tend to lean Republican. It helps to explain why Democrats did so well in the 2006 state-wide contests and fared so poorly in the 2010 election.

Mapping the Republican Sweep: The 2010 Election Results in Ohio

The report doesn’t look at why people voted the way they did but it showed that when a particular party doesn’t turn out their candidate loses. It seems that’s election 101.


(click on picture for fullsize version)

Thirty percent stayed home on election day

The pundits and Republicans are wrong. The election result wasn’t a rejection of the Democratic agenda, 30% of the electorate stayed home, disappointed in the results of the Democratic majority. The GOP won by default – not by mandate.

A new CBS News poll finds that a majority of Americans are either disappointed by the outcome of last week’s midterm elections or simply don’t much care.

While 40 percent do say they are pleased by the election outcome, that’s a significantly smaller percentage than the 58 percent who were pleased following the 2006 midterm elections.

Poll: Disenchantment Remains After Midterms

(h/t Daily Kos)

Still bad for the country but also means that Democrats should maintain their positions on issues like letting the Bush tax cuts to expire.

Early thoughts on 2010 Election results

The 2010 election is not official but it looks like a bad night for Democrats both nationally and here in Ohio. The economy was part of the reason – people out of work – blame the party in power. I have some other thoughts on it.

It looks like the GOP will be sweeping all the offices in Ohio but at this hour Governor is still too close to call.

MSNBC had some exit poll info that showed the main reason for turning out the Democrats was JOBS JOBS JOBS. Anger at the government (the Tea party argument) was only 24%.

Genius Chris Matthews asks maybe if the Democrats had forced the GOP to fight for their ideas instead of letting them obstruct real economy recovery solutions and financial reform the results might have been different.

You think Chris??? Duh! Where have been for two years?

Lawrence O’Donnell was upset that the dirty hippies hurt Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas in the end. 

No Larry, Blanche hurt herself being a blue dog Democrat and throwing labor under the bus.

The only good thing is now the GOP has their chance to try to govern. Good luck to them and may heaven help us all. They have been saying “No!” for so long they don’t have any real idea what they will do to “give us jobs”.

A good spin I would put on it is like a close football game. It is 21 to 20 with 3 minutes left in the game.

Your team is behind and is driving down the field. You end up scoring a field goal to move ahead 23-21 but there is 2 minutes left in the game.

Commentators usually ask “Did you score too soon?”

What then sometimes happens is the other team drives down close enough to kick a field goal and ends up winning 24-23.

In my world the GOP is the team that scored too soon since the 2012 election counts more than 2010.

We will see.

One note is that the GOP is not winning as many seats as they did in 1994 when the economy was not as bad as now.

If people hate the GOP then why will they control the House?

It seems not to make sense. Major polls show the GOP getting control of one or both houses of Congress – while also showing that the GOP have a bad unfavorable rating. How can that be? All because the Democrats couldn’t turn around an economy that took eight years to break in 18 months.

Nearly 50 percent of likely voters prefer a GOP-controlled Congress, which is virtually unchanged from the poll taken two weeks ago; a plurality of all registered voters say it would be a “good thing” if Republicans were in charge of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate; and almost two-thirds — including about half of Democrats — want to see a significant amount of change in the way President Barack Obama has been leading the country. 

Republicans’ short leash

If Republicans gain majorities in Congress, they would so with a still-damaged brand. Thirty-four percent have a favorable view of the GOP, versus 41 percent who have an unfavorable view.

The Democratic Party’s favorable/unfavorable rating stands at 39 percent to 42 percent. The Tea Party’s score, meanwhile, is 32 percent to 40 percent.

Given the GOP’s low standing, McInturff says Republicans would have a very short leash with the public if they end up controlling Congress. Americans, he argues, will keep voting elected officials out of office “until somebody gets the message — which is fix the economy and get things done in Washington.” 

Poll shows ‘hurricane winds’ for Democrats

The answer is JOBS JOBS JOBS.

It is going to be a bumpy two years as people vote away their social interests in order to try the old new GOP policy of giving welfare to the rich and making the working class as cheap in costs as possible. I mean, I would vote Republican if all I had to base my decision on was FOX “news” and the conservative bias of the main stream media that have been complaining for months that the Democratic polices haven’t worked.

The problem is the economic policies are working all be it slowly. I predict that the pace of recovery will pick up not by anything the GOP will do since anything too radical will be tied up in the Senate (should the Democrats retain control) and the GOP will try to claim credit for it in 2012.

Speaker Boner? Gives me the shivers. All because the Democrats couldn’t turn around an economy that took eight years to break in 18 months.

And yes I misspelled the Tan Man’s name on purpose…