All you really need to know:
Older voters came out… younger ones didn’t. The underlying fundamentals were pretty much the same as they were in 2008 Whites turned out at slightly greater number (78% this time compared to 74% in 2008) and they did vote Republican in greater numbers (55% in 2008 compared to 60% last night), but all racial and ethnic groups voted for Republicans in slightly greater numbers. White women in particular shifted to the GOP in greater numbers. They went 58%-40% for Republicans this year, compared to 53%-46% in 2008.
Be comforted Dems, the President and the Congress used their political capital and achieved significant legislation in the first two years. They knew they would never be as popular as they were in January of 2008 and they moved a progressive agenda forward in the face of a horrible political context. Regardless of what the Dems did, they were going to lost their majority. They have a significant body of work to show for it. If they could have gotten one more Senator in 2008, you could have seen an even bigger progressive legislative Renaissance.
Via: Matt Yglesias
Comments 1
Bob — September 2, 2011
I believe that someone misread the tables from CNN. For example, the 2008 table for voting by race says 74% white; 13% Afr American, 9% Latino, 2% Asian, 3% other. This does not mean 74% turnout rate for Whites. This means 74% of the people in the survey were white. See http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1