What Did We Learn? The 2020 Election Version

[TGHusker]

Short answer:  Lots.    At this writing the fat lady hasn't sung yet, so there is still more to learn.  Biden at this moment has overtaken Trump in PA and GA and appears to have secured the votes needed to be declared president.   Below are some of my observations - you can add more with your posts

 

1.  A really polarizing candidate can draw a crowd.  Trump is the most polarizing president in my lifetime (64 years). Result: record turnout.  Most votes ever cast for the winner and for a loser(Trump, did you read that last word?). 

2. The country is divided  - but maybe not as divided as we think.  I think there is a very sizeable group of people in the range from  right of center to left of center who aren't afraid to vote for a candidate from the other party.  Joe was a moderate Dem who drew a lot of GOP support.  I would venture to say, that if he had a different VP (Amy K, Mich Governor, or Demmings or Duckworth) he would have won even more GOP support.  I'm not saying Harris is terrible but she leans more left than many of us would prefer (yes I know not as far left as the progressives on this board desire). 

3. The era of the conservative has not ended and the era of the progressive has not yet begun.  There was no blue wave and especially no progressive blue wave. If there was a wave it was the election of conservative women to the House of Representatives.  In the congressional races - both Senate and House - conservatives won in spite of the person at the top of the ticket.

4. The nation again appears to like divided/shared rule/governance.  Dem president, GOP senate.  Unfortunately,  The Turtle will be Majority leader.  This most likely will be a roadblock to progress on many important issues and have a moderation affect on some of Biden's goals.  I don't want the next 4 years to be a repeat of GOP obstruction as it was under Obama, but it is hard to see it otherwise wt Moscow Mitch at the helm of the Senate.

5. # 4 gives Biden the opportunity to work with his old Senate pals and do what he promised to do:  Unite us, find common ground.  I pray for his success.

6. The polls cannot be trusted.  And to a large extent the media that pushed them.  I'm not getting on the Trump fake news bandwagon, but one cannot ignore the colossal failure of the polling industry.   They need to find other, unbiased ways of polling accurately or shut down and find something else to do.  If Biden wins all of the remaining states except NC, the polls may not be as far off on the EC vote, but remain far off on the vote for Trump.

7.  Not only do we need election reform, but we need election day reform down to the county level.  There is no excuse for the length of time to count these ballots.  There has got to be a better way.

There has got to be a uniform method for securing the timely counting of all ballots.  Yes, this year was different with the massive mail in ballots. Yet other large states made it though quickly.  Some standardization may be in order to help us to arrive at a final result quicker on these tight races.

8. I'll go out on a limb with this one & remove my history hat and put on a prophet's hat:  With Trump's defeat, the door is left open for one very undesirable consequence  -the Glover Cleveland option.   As you know, Cleveland was the only president who had a split 8 year presidency. He served 4 years, was defeated, and came back 4 years later and won another 4 years.   This isn't hard to predict, one does not need to be a prophet:  During the next 4 years, Trump will use his new media platform (OAN or a new platform) to obstruct, to signal, to dog whistle and to stir and make it difficult for Biden to get anything done.  He will do this in coordination with The Turtle.   He will keep his base fired up by feeding them wt falsehoods of every kind.  He will then ride down  that escalator one more time and announce his "Second Coming" and the Cult will be energized even more than before.  Perhaps his false prophet VP pick this time will be Tucker Carlson.

[GSG]

I learned that people (including myself to some degree) have short memories. Apparently everyone forgot it took 36 days to figure out the 2004 election and decided we should freak out over counting votes for a couple days. 

[TGHusker]

14 minutes ago, GSG said:

I learned that people (including myself to some degree) have short memories. Apparently everyone forgot it took 36 days to figure out the 2004 election and decided we should freak out over counting votes for a couple days. 

I think you meant 2000 election  Bush/Gore.   Even at that, I think we can do better with our modern technology. 

[teachercd]

Short memories and bad memories!  Haha

[knapplc]

We learned that people are tired of trump's blather. I don't think we learned that people are voting FOR Biden, but rather AGAINST trump. I don't know of anyone who is excited for a Biden presidency, and nearly everyone I've discussed it with thinks he'll spend most of his time cleaning up trump's mess.

 

We also learned that, aside from "not donald trump," Americans are fine electing Republicans across all levels of government. The Dems hoped to take the Senate (and apparently there's a possibility they might, but I don't expect it), and not only did they not outright take the Senate, they lost ground (but still hold a majority) in the House. Further, down-ballot was an absolute bloodbath for Democrats across state legislatures and municipalities.

 

Democrats lack charismatic leadership. They lack intelligent messaging. They cling to an America that has long since passed them by, and resist embracing progressive ideas that voters have shown they support. The best thing Democrats can do in the next four years is give Nancy Pelosi a nice gold watch and usher her off into retirement.

 

 

[GSG]

5 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

I think you meant 2000 election  Bush/Gore.   Even at that, I think we can do better with our modern technology. 

 

See! I'm apparently just as forgetful! 

[TGHusker]

4 minutes ago, knapplc said:

We learned that people are tired of trump's blather. I don't think we learned that people are voting FOR Biden, but rather AGAINST trump. I don't know of anyone who is excited for a Biden presidency, and nearly everyone I've discussed it with thinks he'll spend most of his time cleaning up trump's mess.

 

We also learned that, aside from "not donald trump," Americans are fine electing Republicans across all levels of government. The Dems hoped to take the Senate (and apparently there's a possibility they might, but I don't expect it), and not only did they not outright take the Senate, they lost ground (but still hold a majority) in the House. Further, down-ballot was an absolute bloodbath for Democrats across state legislatures and municipalities.

 

Democrats lack charismatic leadership. They lack intelligent messaging. They cling to an America that has long since passed them by, and resist embracing progressive ideas that voters have shown they support. The best thing Democrats can do in the next four years is give Nancy Pelosi a nice gold watch and usher her off into retirement.

 

 

I agree with this. The Dems need to polish their image and that begins wt new blood at the leadership level. San Fran Nan needs to hand the gavel over to a new generation.  It is amazing that someone like Trump garnered more African American and Hispanic votes than any other GOPer in the last 60 years.     There is indeed something wrong wt the Dem's messaging. 

 

[TGHusker]

One other thing I learned:

This election was a repudiation of Trump.  The GOP did better than expectations in the down ballot races.  But that didn't carry to the very top.  

[RedDenver]

18 minutes ago, GSG said:

 

See! I'm apparently just as forgetful! 

Haha! I thought you put the wrong year as part of the joke.

[Minnesota_husker]

22 minutes ago, knapplc said:

We learned that people are tired of trump's blather. I don't think we learned that people are voting FOR Biden, but rather AGAINST trump. I don't know of anyone who is excited for a Biden presidency, and nearly everyone I've discussed it with thinks he'll spend most of his time cleaning up trump's mess.

 

We also learned that, aside from "not donald trump," Americans are fine electing Republicans across all levels of government. The Dems hoped to take the Senate (and apparently there's a possibility they might, but I don't expect it), and not only did they not outright take the Senate, they lost ground (but still hold a majority) in the House. Further, down-ballot was an absolute bloodbath for Democrats across state legislatures and municipalities.

 

Democrats lack charismatic leadership. They lack intelligent messaging. They cling to an America that has long since passed them by, and resist embracing progressive ideas that voters have shown they support. The best thing Democrats can do in the next four years is give Nancy Pelosi a nice gold watch and usher her off into retirement.

 

 

Well said. I think the message for Democrats has been so focused on Trump and his issues, that they have sort of forgotten what they stand for.

 

I am not a huge Biden fan but I also dont think he is going to cause a Civil or world war because his ego gets in the way of logical thinking. 

 

My big concern is that Trump comes back in 4 years and runs again. I hope that if Biden hangs on, the Republicans realize the fault of their ways and start working to unify. 

 

Enough of this "if you dont do exactly what your party says you are dead to us" crap and allow for the two parties to work together to create fair resolutions. 

 

I know it wont happen, but a man can dream.

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

1)  This is a concern of mine.  Have candidates come to believe they need to be radical and divisive to get the nomination?  This is obviously true on the right the last two elections.  Not so much on the left.  I would say Biden is one of the least obnoxious and divisive people that ran on that side.

 

2)  I think you're right.  There are a ton of people who are sick and tired of the country being on edge the last 4 years and want things to get back to normalcy.  

 

3)  This is an interesting one.  You're right, there was no blue wave.  I think this gets to the point that many Americans still have conservative views but are tired of Trump.  So, they voted against Trump, but they still want a conservative congress.  Republicans didn't win bigger here because there were a lot of voters (like me) who voted all blue trying to send a message to the Republicans that the last 4 years are not acceptable.  

 

4)  There are a lot of people who are tired of Trump, but were OK with voting for Biden as long as he also had a Republican Senate.  I've heard that a lot this week in discussions.  The idea that "Well, if he has a Republican Senate he's not going to be able to have a far left agenda.  2022 elections are going to be interesting.

 

5)  Agree.  Maybe he can prove that a more Reagan like attitude in the WH can bring the government together more.

 

6)  Polling is a problem.  I've actually always thought that.  One reform I've always thought is somehow (I think it's impossible) to restrict any polling to be reported one or two months leading up to the election.  I personally don't think the polling is "biased".  I think it's "flawed" and there's a big difference between the two.  One thing I believe is that they need to look at the way they do the polls and the types of people who are willing to participate in them.  Obviously, more liberal type people are willing to answer the phone and answer the questions.  That's why the polls tend to lean that way.  So....how can they bring more people into the process to get a better picture?  I don't have an answer.

 

7)  We need major election reform and somewhere on here there's a thread discussing it where I've laid out my opinions.

 

8)  I firmly believe Trump is going to spend the next 4 years being absolutely as divisive and motivating for the radical right as he can be.  Big question is, does that motivate more people to follow him, or does some of his current followers start growing tired of it?  God help us if he runs again in 2024 and still has as big or bigger following as he has now.  Hopefully, the Republican party spends the next 4 years distancing from him.

[FrantzHardySwag]

Whoever was in charge of the outreach in Georgia (Abrams?) and Arizona, did an absolute bang up job. That's my positive take away. Take the strategies there and apply them to Texas and Florida. 

[BigRedBuster]

23 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

One other think I learned:

This election was a repudiation of Trump.  The GOP did better than expectations in the down ballot races.  But that didn't carry to the very top.  

One thing I'm hearing from top Republicans is that Trump helped down ballot Republicans.  I don't buy it.  I think many people still voted for Republicans in these races in spite of Trump...instead of because of him.  Obviously, many voted against Trump himself, but voted FOR down ballot Repubs.  

[knapplc]

10 minutes ago, Minnesota_husker said:

My big concern is that Trump comes back in 4 years and runs again. I hope that if Biden hangs on, the Republicans realize the fault of their ways and start working to unify. 

 

I'm going to start a GoFundMe where we raise money to send trump two double cheeseburgers a day, every day, for the next four years. That oughtta take care of it.

 

 

[TGHusker]