PoliticalMalcontent
PoliticalMalcontent's JournalWho should pick presidents? Party leadership or the people?
There has been a bit of contention with how Democratic leadership has fallen in line behind Hillary Clinton while shutting out Bernie Sanders on the democratic side.
On the Republican side party brokers are trying their best to make sure that Donald Trump is NOT the face of the party for years to come. Donald Trump has responded by threatening to run as an independent. Interestingly, Ben Carson has also blasted the RNC, threatening to leave the party.
The DNC and RNC are entirely different, yet their struggles are similar. Both Parties have their preferred candidates. Jeb Bush was supposed to be the guy. The people rebuked the party offer and went with Trump and Carson. The Republican party is now scrambling to prop up their next best choice.
Over on the DNC side Clinton has been protected via a lack of debates. Compare 2008 to 2016. In 2008 the Democrats had 26 scheduled debates. In 2016 the DNC scheduled ... Six? SIX lousy debates? You've got to be shitting me. And most of those debates are scheduled on days meant to leep viewership down (Saturdays, around holidays, against both football and baseball playoffs).
So the DNC clearly has their candidate and the RNC is working on finding an emergency candidate.
Shouldn't people be given as many opportunities as possible to learn about their candidates though? This is basically an interview process for possibly the most important job in the world. I find it shameful that so many party leaders were willing to make an endorsement before the 'interview process' of debates ever began. It undermines democracy when the party picks their candidate before the race has even started and frankly it makes me question their motives (backdoor deals, etc).
So... Who should pick presidents? Party leadership or the general voting public?
Demographics data from Public Policy Polling's New Hampshire survey (Dec 3rd)
There was a trove of data beyond "Who would you vote for?" from that PPP survey posted on Dec. 3rd for New Hampshire.
Data can be found here: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_NH_120315.pdf
Methodology per PPP:
voters from November 30th to December 2nd. The margin of error for both parties is +/-4.6%.
80% of participants responded via the phone, while 20% of respondents who did not have
landlines conducted the survey over the internet."
Final tally among likely New Hampshire democratic primary voters:
Clinton - 44%
Sanders - 42%
O'Malley - 8%
Undecided - 7%
We've already seen this poll though. Let's dig deeper! (My apologies to O'Malley supporters. I'm going to focus my energies on Clinton and Sanders for the rest of this post as there's just too much data to work with.)
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Clinton Net Favorability among democratic primary voters by gender
Male: +45 (9% not sure)
Female: +48 (10% not sure)
Combined: +46% (9% not sure)
Sanders Net Favorability among democratic primary voters by gender
Male: +68 (8% not sure)
Female: +63 (11% not sure)
Combined: +66 (10% not sure)
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Clinton Net Favorability among democratic primary voters by age
18-45: +31 (9% not sure)
46-65: +49 (11% not sure)
Older than 65: +64 (6% not sure)
Sanders Net Favorability among democratic primary voters by age
18-45: +57 (12% not sure)
46-65: +69 (10% not sure)
Older than 65: 72% (6% not sure)
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Clinton Net Favorability by party affiliation
Democrat: +58 (6% not sure)
Republican: -34 (0% not sure)
Independent: +25 (25% not sure)
Sanders Net Favorability by party affiliation
Democrat: +76 (8% not sure)
Republican: -54 (14% not sure)
Independent: +51 (12% not sure)
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Again, this is a fairly small sample size and only applies to New Hampshire. Still, it's a bit of food for thought. All of the data from my post plus some other gems can be located in in the last 10 or so pages of the link provided above (or here for those to lazy to scroll up!).
Let's open this up for discussion.
Trump and Xenophobia
I've been doing some writing on Public Policy Polling's recent New Hampshire survey and while that post isn't ready yet I was shocked and fascinated by some of the data on Trump.
Here's an excerpt from Public Policy Polling (Specifically page 2): http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_NH_120315.pdf
9/11 to only 12% who don't think that happened. This is despite only 30% of Republican
voters overall believing that to 39% who don't.
53% of Trump supporters are in favor of a national database of Muslims, to only 22%
opposed to that concept. This is despite only 29% of Republicans overall supporting the
idea to 44% who are against it. In fact supporters of all 13 of the other candidates are
against this concept.
49% of Trump supporters want to shut down the mosques in the United States, to only
18% against that idea. Overall only 25% of Republicans support doing that to 44% who
oppose it. Again on this issue supporters of every single candidate other than Trump are
against it.
Additionally we asked voters about an assault weapons ban and only 20% of Trump
voters support it to 66% who are opposed. We then asked about a ban specifically on
assault weapons for Muslims, and 56% of Trump voters support that to only 22% who are
opposed.
Republicans may be bad, but Trump might just be the worst by using his rhetoric to whip up fear.
Sanders Youtube link dump - (700+ vids spanning a career in politics)
Hello everyone,
I've come across several amazing Youtube pages with hundreds of Sanders vids spanning 30+ years. I've felt compelled to share, but am a bit nervous about making such a post. I hope at least a few DUers find it enjoyable and/or informative.
These videos do a great job of highlighting his consistency on the issues.
Catholics4Bernie Playlist - 650+ videos spanning 30+ years in politics segmented down by year. Typically shorter clips from C-SPAN)
Peoples War Videos - Various videos from various sources of varying lengths. 50+ videos.)
Any of the videos from above or elsewhere resonate with you? Consider sharing the cream of the crop in the comments.
Thank you.
Hello. My name is PoliticalMalcontent and I'm addicted to Politics.
My first taste of politics came before I could vote back in the year 2000. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, but Florida and hanging chads were dominating the news. If Gore has been elected perhaps my story would have ended there.
2004: My first election. I was enthralled by the political process. Having read daily about the horrors of war for the past several years and realizing the epic cost both in dollars and life it seemed like change was inevitable. Watching the 2004 campaigns unfold it became clear to me just how sick politics can be. Swiftboat Veterans for Truth? Karl Rove's ugly politics fooled the people that weren't really paying attention and that sickened me (much like the Benghazi scandal sickens me today). An all-out smear campaign (Swiftboating, flip-flopping) left Kerry in trouble. Incumbency is hard to overtake, no matter how objectively bad the incumbent is apparently.
The 2004 election was heartbreaking. Rehab came in the form of The Daily Show. If I couldn't celebrate politics the least I could do was laugh, right? Jon Stewart was amazing and will be missed.
2008 rolled around, and by this time my political opinions had grown by leaps and bounds. I did some campaigning for Barack Obama, whom I felt was the best person for the job and I was beyond the moon when he eventually won the presidency. While he hasn't been a perfect president (none are) I view him favorably overall.
In general, I consider myself a liberal Democrat and will gladly discuss politics with anybody. Most all of my family and friends are either hardcore conservatives (ugh!) or not interested in politics. I'm for civility and facts. Opinions are nice, but if baseless, leave themselves open for scrutiny. That being said, I'm not here to be an asshole. I'm just here to have a voice.
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Member since: Fri Oct 30, 2015, 06:27 PMNumber of posts: 449
