The great 2020 election thread....

[clearspira]

I can promise Fuzzy that I think the same of British voters. We had the same problem and then suddenly Scottish independence, Brexit and out own celebrity prime minister put bums back into polling booths again. Suddenly staying in and watching TV wasn't as important as it was back in every other connecting election that led to this.

I'm more making a point regarding apathy. This is what happens when you ARE a lazy slob who sits on your ass and ignores politics: shit happens without you. It was Julius Caesar who famously said ''just because you are not interested in politics it does not mean that politics are not interested in you.'' As true now as it was 2000 years ago.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

It's not just about the Sin of Sloth. I live in a country where one of the two parties depends, not just wants but depends for success, upon making sure that a good portion of the populace doesn't vote. This includes voter roll purges, voter ID laws, the felony disqualification, and all sorts of other dirty tricks.

Are you so naive as to think that adult in the USA who wants to vote, can vote? Because if that was the case, one of our two parties would never win a national election again.

[Captain Crimson]

I can promise Fuzzy that I think the same of British voters. We had the same problem and then suddenly Scottish independence, Brexit and out own celebrity prime minister put bums back into polling booths again. Suddenly staying in and watching TV wasn't as important as it was back in every other connecting election that led to this.

I'm more making a point regarding apathy. This is what happens when you ARE a lazy slob who sits on your ass and ignores politics: shit happens without you. It was Julius Caesar who famously said ''just because you are not interested in politics it does not mean that politics are not interested in you.'' As true now as it was 2000 years ago.

And rest assured, if Mr. Biden wins, it is due to an atypical strategy the dems could have never pulled otherwise, the unique combination of a pandemic and his opponent being Mr. 45, so that due to his low visibility, he's just the anti-Trump, which could honestly push him over the edge. Possibly. We just don't have all the data right now as the "silent Trump voter" is a real phenomenon, and I think it's only gotten worse since 2016.

I worry about a potential new spike of COVID after the election. So glad me and my family did so through mail-in ballots.

[TGLS]

Shy Trump has little evidence supporting it. The more likely case is overpolling college graduates and models that neglected the high level of third-party supporters and undecideds.

https://academic.oup.com/poq/article/82/1/1/4837043

In addition, the committee examined several theories as to why many polls, particularly in the Upper Midwest, underestimated support for Trump. The explanations for which the most evidence exists are a late swing in vote preference toward Trump and a pervasive failure to adjust for overrepresentation of college graduates (who favored Clinton). In addition, there is clear evidence that voter turnout changed from 2012 to 2016 in ways that favored Trump, though there is only mixed evidence that misspecified likely voter models were a major cause of the systematic polling error. Finally, there is little evidence that socially desirable (Shy Trump) responding was an important contributor to poll error.

[Rocketboy1313]

Good god, imagine a Trump supporter who wasn't clamoring to tell you how much they fucking love Trump. Even when they aren't yelling about it, the Confederate flags flying from their smoke spewing pick ups give the game away.

[Captain Crimson]

Good god, imagine a Trump supporter who wasn't clamoring to tell you how much they fucking love Trump. Even when they aren't yelling about it, the Confederate flags flying from their smoke spewing pick ups give the game away.

While they do exist, that's stereotyping.

I think the elites still have a hard time examining HOW these people work. It's considered socially irresponsible to vote for Mr. 45, the MSM beats you over the head with that all day long. And yet, as I've noted, their bias is so prominent, they literally complain over the same things Fox News had done for Mr. Obama just a few years prior. Can we please stop the double standards? Because in their rush to discredit him, there's more than a few things they have missed. Like he has kept all his campaign promises. They were just very bad ones. The disdain for him is understandable. Creating an echo chamber is not.

I personally know people who still think PC culture is out of control, and to say so will get you mobbed, online and in RL, so they generally stay silent. People who both like and dislike Mr. 45. I cannot speak to their kind of numbers, except that I've known a Latino who voted for the first time, and after the scandal for what is on Mr. Biden's laptop came out, he regretted it. The silent majority, such as it is, prefer conduct over policy, since they really feel the GOP is superior on economic issues. Plus Mr. Biden's waffling on fracking is sure to kill him in Rust Belt states. It's why the dems have kept him in low visibility, given what a notorious gaffe machine he is who lost out on the nod twice. Hate-voting has been a consistent, rising trend for 40 years, except now the culture favors the left, so that's sure to generate an equal response.

I can't help but feel Mr. Biden is doing this out of jealousy. He was upset that he felt overshadowed by Mr. Obama during his run as president, so that he wants to carve his own niche. That's in line to him plagiarizing a speech. Not out of racism, mind you, just that the VP slot usually gets overlooked. It's why I dislike the notion of a female VP since it's a thankless secondary job, however vital it is to society. That's not shattering the glass ceiling.

But back on point, I still think the data is skewed. Those voters I just listed are not deliberately heading to pollsters to give their opinions, and lying to pollsters is likely still a real concern. Bottom line is nobody knows at this point, yet I wouldn't be surprised to see Mr. 45 eke out another victory. My larger point was if Mr. Biden wins, that it's hardly conditions you can replicate, with a supremely unpopular president due to his mouth, and a pandemic which was custom-made for dems (not saying it's manufactured, so much as their response is) in keeping their divisive, unpopular candidate hidden with the justification of "health concerns." They do have health concerns, don't get me wrong. But it's also a very convenient shield so people don't see too much of Mr. Biden. And if he wins, that would be why, and no one is going to know what to do with him. That should not be controversial to say that, since many dems can't stand him!

[Captain Crimson]

They prefer policy over conduct. That was a typo, and I cannot edit since the editor option has gone all screwed up for me. I can't access my inbox or my notifications.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Waffling on fracking?

[Captain Crimson]

Waffling on fracking?

Mr. Biden has said MANY times he wants to end fracking. Even CNN covered this. Not saying I necessarily support fracking, since I don't like environmental damage, and I think with all our budget overspending, you could at least find a way to perhaps mine other planets in the solar system. Back on topic, lots of people in Rust Belt states do support it, however. Mr. Biden only said this to try to pander to Rust Belt voters, and Mr. 45 responded in kind, he put it on his web site. So it's not like this is some Fox News/Breitbart type conspiracymongering news. Mr. Biden flip-flops the same way Mr. Romney did. It's how most politicians do it nowadays, sadly, it seems. Mr. Sanders has done it. Ms. Clinton has done it. You could name many more.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

From what I can tell it looks like a standard DNC protocol of regulated fracking with logistics arranged subsequent of other energy administration policies that will get them good marks from institutions that endorse candidates.