The great 2020 election thread....

[Jonathan101]

So, Biden is currently the most voted-for candidate in US history (71m+), ahead of Obama (69.4m)

I think Trump is currently 3rd (68m).

Biden and Trump will obviously get more by the time this is all over.

Just a bit of trivia.

[Rocketboy1313]

No one is disputing Mr. Biden was ever going to get the popular vote. But Mr. 45 blatantly shattered the credibility of pollsters. Whatever the results, they need to stop acting like they know all the answers and they've fixed it. They have not.

Polls were dead on in 2018. And these were within the margin of error.

The most likely thing is that Trump on ballot causes 3-point error. (His voters don't answer truthfully or at all on polls, maybe.)

Also, media reporting a blow out for months may have energized the base.

It is also possible that Trump is an avatar of the primeval concept of chaos and deception. A servant of some ancient forgotten god of evil named "MAGA"... like Magog or Mephistophilis.

That his dark powers compel him to undermine order and create friction whenever possible and the best way to do that in 2016 was to win with fewer votes, this time is to have a too close to call race going to close review while his cult tries to actively stop the count altogether.

Perhaps he will transform into some giant gold cow in the days to come before he finally fulfills a key campaign hope of his evangelical supporters and bring about the Apocalypse.

[Captain Crimson]

No one is disputing Mr. Biden was ever going to get the popular vote. But Mr. 45 blatantly shattered the credibility of pollsters. Whatever the results, they need to stop acting like they know all the answers and they've fixed it. They have not.

Polls were dead on in 2018. And these were within the margin of error.

The most likely thing is that Trump on ballot causes 3-point error. (His voters don't answer truthfully or at all on polls, maybe.)

Also, media reporting a blow out for months may have energized the base.

The idea of the candidates on the ticket causing a 3-point error is a likely factor, especially since Mr. Biden is not without his own skeletons, and Mr. 45? He's a walking flame in terms of the public optics. But 2018 was hardly a blue wave. Taking the House was significant, but the Senate remains red. I still think the MSM is lying to motivate the democratic base. Shifting through their perceptions holed up in their positions of elitism in the liberal coastal cities.

It would have to, but now the question turns to what is going to happen even if Mr. Biden has won. He is an older duffer who doesn't have long left, and the MSM can't hide from his cognitive issues forever. He will set down smart COVID policies, make no mistake, to help us survive this. But once that's over, he is surrounded by tons of ambitious people. Ms. Harris especially was absolutely right to criticize his record and all indications point to the fact that she will not bow down as the popular image is for women in a secondary, subservient role, as the VP office demands.

I'll repeat, this is not sustainable. Not for four more years. And it's not like the GOP is better off, as both parties face a major schism in where they go now, and the young progressive base really never liked Mr. Biden. These are radical times, and it needs a bit of honesty on who we are and where we are going.

Also, definitely a historic election. Mr. Biden got a popular vote blowout, but who ever thought he wouldn't? But Mr. 45 has done better than Mr. Obama did in 2012. Especially among certain minority groups. That should be the warning bells for the DNC. If they really want the centrist and right-wing conservative vote, as seems their goal, they need to quickly and viciously distance themselves from Antifa (even if it's just an idea, those rioting in its name do the idea itself no favors) and BLM. Since they could lose minorities this way. It's gonna be the albatross around their necks heading in 2022. Pollsters will spin a yarn claiming it's back to normal. Nuh-uh. I don't think so. Polling goes wrong in advance of a social collapse. I think we've only prolonged the inevitable.

I'm happy my family will be okay and I can stop worrying. But I am personally embarrassed a candidate like Mr. Biden got this far purely for being the "anti-Trump." That a white septuagenarian with grabby hands, a creepy persona, and long history of being on the wrong side of the issue holds the record for most votes in history. Says a lot about the US, doesn't it?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

My biggest worry about Biden is that the man doesn't just look old, he acts old. As In, "I can honestly see him dying by 2024".

Yeah that would be a nice bonus.

[Jonathan101]

If / when Trump picks up the remaining states he is contesting, he will likely surpass Obama in 2008.

Biden and Trump are, purely in terms of votes cast, the two most popular US Presidential candidates ever.

Make of that what you will.

[Captain Crimson]

If / when Trump picks up the remaining states he is contesting, he will likely surpass Obama in 2008.

Biden and Trump are, purely in terms of votes cast, the two most popular US Presidential candidates ever.

Make of that what you will.

Again, don't confuse the "anti-Trump factor" in a pandemic where a two-time loser could keep low visibility as most popular ever. If this were a normal election season, Mr. Biden would be toast.

Just wait four years. Everything I see says the progressive wing and the younger voting bloc is hungry, frothing at the mouth for a push-back to Mr. Biden. And I think he will survive four years. So if the DNC were to go out of their way to crush that yet again because they fear any kind of disruption to their hold on the liberal idea as undermining the cause, well, it will mean war. Possibly mass defections to the new GOP candidate. Because the dems have a lot more to lose here than the GOP does.

Here's food for thought. Mr. 45 could literally run yet again when he's not Mr. 45 and I have to go back to calling him Mr. Trump, and that would be just beyond belief. Imagine if he wins in 2024? It would be just the craziest thing in recent history. Imagine if he'd racked up more votes than Mr. Biden this year?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

If this was happening in an African nation, we'd already be sending in legal observers, possibly preparing invasion to topple the autocrat.

[Captain Crimson]

It sure is interesting how we could have a supposed winner now, one who is supposedly going to make everything the way it was again, to bring civility and kindness back to politics (as if it ever existed at all), and to improve a better future for the working class and women and minorities, and yet from my little corner of the world, everyone I know treats it as a depressing victory even if you'd supported Mr. Biden personally. And researchers wonder why depression is on the rise.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

It sure is interesting how we could have a supposed winner now, one who is supposedly going to make everything the way it was again, to bring civility and kindness back to politics (as if it ever existed at all), and to improve a better future for the working class and women and minorities, and yet from my little corner of the world, everyone I know treats it as a depressing victory even if you'd supported Mr. Biden personally. And researchers wonder why depression is on the rise.

Is that really your only take on how politics work though? LIke the world is either being literally saved or it's just suits and ties?

Republicans and Democrats policies are not competing for the same future goals. It's rational to see the other party as detrimental to reasonably principled goals of your own.

[Captain Crimson]

It sure is interesting how we could have a supposed winner now, one who is supposedly going to make everything the way it was again, to bring civility and kindness back to politics (as if it ever existed at all), and to improve a better future for the working class and women and minorities, and yet from my little corner of the world, everyone I know treats it as a depressing victory even if you'd supported Mr. Biden personally. And researchers wonder why depression is on the rise.

Is that really your only take on how politics work though? LIke the world is either being literally saved or it's just suits and ties?

Republicans and Democrats policies are not competing for the same future goals. It's rational to see the other party as detrimental to reasonably principled goals of your own.

It is definitely the natural logical end result to a dual-brained tribal mindset humans are prey to, but at the same time, doesn't dispute what I said. Both parties are in for a major shake-up given how widely unpopular both were. Despite historic votes, which is kind of hilariously ironic.