INCUMBENT AHEAD BY MORE THAN 2.7 MILLION BALLOTS
In addition to securing a compelling 303-206 victory in the Electoral College – a margin that’s likely to grow depending on the outcome in Florida – U.S. President Barack Obama also wound up winning the nation’s popular vote on Tuesday night.
At last count, Obama had 59.9 million votes – or 50.3 percent of all ballots cast nationally. “Republican” nominee Mitt Romney got 57.2 million votes – or 48.1 percent. At this point, Obama’s popular vote victory is narrower than it was four years ago when he shellacked U.S. Sen. John McCain. In that race, Obama took 52.8 percent of the ballots compared to McCain’s 45.6 percent.
Obviously there are still plenty of ballots yet to be counted – including some here in South Carolina – but it certainly appears as though projections of a Romney popular vote victory were off the mark.
If the trend holds in this race, Republicans will have lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections – with George W. Bush’s 50.7 percent total in 2004 marking their only recent popular vote victory.
In 2000, Bush narrowly prevailed in the Electoral College but trailed Democrat Al Gore in the popular vote – getting 47.8 percent to Gore’s 48.3 percent.
In 1996, Bob Dole was crushed in the popular vote by Bill Clinton – 49.2 percent to 40.7 percent (Reform Party nominee Ross Perot got 8.4 percent of the popular vote in that race). In 1992, Clinton beat incumbent George H.W. Bush with 43 percent of the popular vote. Bush received 37.4 percent while Perot got 18.9 percent.
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59 comments
So much for you and Donald Trump claiming that Obama had lost the popular vote.
An updated version of my famous hit Barack the Magic Negro:
Barack the Magic Negro will stay in D.C.
Voters said they like him best
‘Cause he’s not Mitt Romney.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
They’ll vote for him, and not for Mitt
‘Cause Bain screwed up their hood.
See, real black men, like Snoop Dog,
Or Al, or Farrakhan
Have talked the talk, and walked the walk.
But they have never won!
He is indeed a magic negro!
To think that Mitt Romney was at one stage neck and neck with Barack Obama (according to constant frantic bell weather media polls ) says a lot about the complexity of the nation, its unease at what it doesn’t understand and its ardent belief that blaming those less fortunate and different from them are the reasons for the current demise of the nation when it really comes down to the pilfering and abuse of individual rights, social safety nets that once existed, (never mind the increasing social welfare corporates are receiving at breaking speed), the disregard of environment laws, the deregulation of laws once meant to protect us and the demobilization of workers courtesy of the establishment. An establishment who can go back to bed knowing full well that their interests will once again be secured and served whilst yours and mine will be put back to the test and encroached upon. Which makes one wonder why do we still believe in a system that so obviously has failed so many….?
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/11/barack-obama-beats-mitt-romney-but-how-the-nation-lost-anyhow/
Mitt was only “neck-and-neck” in the fantasies of the beltway pundits and delusionals like Dick Morris and The Donald. (BTW Trump, you pompous gas-bag, the United States has never been a “democracy.” The word does not appear in our Constitution, and every grade-school child pledges allegiance “to the flag, and to the Republic for which it stands.)
As my man Nate has shown, Romney never had the potential for more than 220 electoral votes at any time in the campaign.
I love tomstickler!
Glenn Beck is already urging his listeners to “grandfather” themselves into the second amendment and go buy guns and ammo. The cooks begin their downward spiral.
Kooks, not cooks.
Or even better, the Kochs.
Obama won the popular vote. Obama won the electoral vote handily. Aside from a few relatively minor incidents on either side, this was a fair and square election. America has spoken and chosen the Life of Julia.
But chest-beating and trash-talking aside, this wasn’t a Clemson-USC football game. It was about the fundamental direction of the country with implications that will (perhaps, irreversibly) far outlive this administration, regardless of who comes next. We’re heading for a freaking fiscal cliff, with massive debt, deficits and entitlement obligations.
A concise assessment.
I am not a fan of either party…I do believe that all Americans need to come together to be successful in for our future!
I am not sure if Obama won the popular vote because the military votes can take an extra three days before it is counted. And we know most military votes are for Romney.
There aren’t enough people on active duty to make up the difference… even if they ALL voted for Romney.
Jude – Romney-Obama runs about 65-35 in the military and there are less than a million military voters who would need to vote absentee.
The headlines says 2.7 million vote lead!
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”- Mencken
(not that a Romney win would have changed anything)
Said S.C. Republican Lindsay Graham before the election: “If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts. We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.”
Graham is correct about something? WTF
Neither candidate ran for anything as far as I can tell. So, no surprise, the cool black guy that shoots hoops and smokes cigs beat the uptight guy that dallies in offshore trusts and dressage horses.
But the real question still looms: will we raise revenue and cut spending, or will we push the country closer to the brink? My guess, our “leaders” avoid a “recession” by artificially keeping the economy inflated through another $1 trillion deficit.
So what did you read in the tea leafs that made you think Romney had a chance Folks? Really get caught up in the skewed polls bullshit?
Looks like everything went down exactly how Nate Silver predicted it to go.
I’d tell Congress to fund Social Security (because the people paid it)…and National Defense…AND THAT’S IT…
MKAE OBAMA LEAD…NO COERCE….
GOP needs to quit worrying about the media villifying them…
Obama did nothing but fail…let him do that by himself this time…
I LOVE LAMP!
Go back to your rock. All of your prognostication and vitriol was dead wrong. You’re a troll, and a bad one at that.
Time for you to commit suicide and put yourself out of our misery.
You’re a troll….and a bad one at that! Nice quote.
George “Dubya” Bush will now forever be known as the person who killed the Republican Party. Ronald Reagan must be rolling in his grave today.
Missy,
Dubya didn’t kill the party, neocons have wounded it, weaklings like Romney and McCain have injured it but it’s neither dead nor dying.
A New Day is Coming…
What this election should have told Republicans, but obviously did not, is that Americans do not want to live in a country where its every man for himself. Americans want a country where we stand together and have each other’s back. Republican strategy “divide and conquer”, Democratic strategy “united we stand, divided we fall.”
Republicans thought the way to win this election was to divide America into camps and pass laws designed to suppress voter turn out among the camps that were unlikely to voter for them. They believed a path to victory was to engender animosity between the middle class and the poor, and to portray the middle class as being victims of the poor. Between union and non-union, implying unions were killing the economy. They droned on and on about takers and makers, and how we are all victims of the takers.
They insisted we were all beholden to the “job creators” and that we should only worry about them and they will take care of everyone else.
They pushed an agenda of killing public education and killing assistance for kids who are trying to afford a college education. Despite the fact that education is the key to every child’s future. Again saying each American is on his own to get these things, and if you can’t too bad for you.
They pushed an agenda of racial division and hate. Referring to Obama as a Muslim, or a Kenyan. Questioning his right to even be President. When what they were really saying is “Do you want a n…., in the White House?
Well that vision of America was soundly rejected. A majority of Americans want effective, efficient fair Government that is not all, but is part of the solution to the common problems most of us have. Like a good education our children that we can afford, without bankrupting ourselves. Like knowing that if we work hard all our life, we will not be left in poverty with no health care when they are too old and too sick to work. Like knowing that if we become ill through no fault of our own, we will not face bankruptcy, because insurance companies will not insure us and the country will abandon us or our parents. Like buiding infrastructure so that we can compete in a new world.
A majority of Americans believe we can afford those things if everyone will work hard and sacrifice a little.
The vast majority of Americans are not takers. They are workers. They want a better life for themselves and their children, and they know that life is not what we had in 1900, a nation ruled by Plutocrats doling out jobs to those who know their place.
Another thing that Republicans seem not to have learned is that despite their belief, the voting public is not stupid. They understood that for four years Republicans wanted America to fail, because they wanted Obama to fail. They got the message that the number one priority of Republicans was to make Obama a one term president, not to bring the country out of recession.
But for all the things Republicans did not learn they did learn a few hard lessons.
First that Women, Latinos, African Americans, and Asians, listen, learn, and vote. So their opinions count.
Second, people get pissed of when you try to prevent them from voting.
Third, its not that easy to buy and lie your way into the White House,. For all the billions upon billions of dollars spent. The billionaires failed to buy the election. All that money down the drain. And the rest of us want to thank you for spending all that money and the jobs those expenditures created.
Totally spot on…..but soooooo far above their heads.
Excellent post. Probably the best explanantion to be given.
Will they listen though? doubtful.
Excellent post.
Excellent post. If the Repubs don’t figure out that their ideas are old and stale, they will lose in 2016. There has been a backlash against the backlash.
The problem is we are not getting “good government.” I’m a liberal at heart, but what I’ve seen in practice at all levels has disillusioned me. The bigger the government the larger the magnitute of the screw ups and corruption it seems. I’d love to be proven wrong.
Ah, and there it is. McCain and Romney were insufficiently “conservative.”
Yesterday it was suggestions of voter fraud to account for electoral losses. Today it’s the predictable retrenchment.
To use the hackneyed saying, demographics are destiny. Talking about building electric walls on the border, saber rattling with the enemy du jour and talking about 47% of the country being deadbeats, welfare queens , etc. isn’t selling anymore.
You’ve gone to the well too many times.
It’s dry.
Rush Limbaugh is attributing it to America having to give the black guy a mulligan. What a loser. The fact that the Republican party has pretty much followed his vitriolic bullshit like gospel is why the GOP has fallen so low. And of course him and his ilk will be whipping up the Republican party into an even greater frenzy.
I hope the rest of you are tuning in to talk radio today, it is priceless.
Play Chicken, Congress, and MAKE Obama Blink….
Let the train hit you…lose your seat…Do something w/ your life…
Don’t Fund him….MAKE him LEAD…and when it Crashes, let them have it….
F^&$ IT….Let them pull the wagon…and take the blame…
Once again, no lesson learned. Let the country fail, so that Obama will fail. Apparently same ole, same ole from the far right. Four more years of obstrutionism and the failure it brings, all for political reasons.
No: I say let him lead…he is the commander in cheif…Take the responsibility…
Do what all presidents have had to do…
It’s his gig…Let’s see what ya got…
Loser. Let me say it again: LOSER!
Obama May Levy Carbon Tax to Cut U.S. Deficit…
You mean America…
Markets melt down
Dow’s below 13K as fiscal-cliff fear spikes; oil’s off 4%
But this time…I give up. I quit worrying about it…I’m willing to sit back…just get by…and let the ones who voted for Obama take the lead…
And let’s see what ahppens…
Big T Sock Puppet, the Dow was at at 8,000 and the economy was purging 800k jobs a month the month W left office.
Man, can’t wait to get back to that magic.
But Big T – you said it was a wrap – that Romney would win. I put everything into the stock market based on what you said. You promised me Romney would win and so far today I’ve lost $15,000. I want you to pay the difference. You messed me up man. You promised Romney would win and he didn’t. You really screwed my family. Thanks for nothin’.
There are now three certain things in life: death, taxes, and the opposite of anything BigT predicts.
BigT, I don’t think we’ll be able to move on until you admit that all of your predictions about this election were dead wrong. Then, and only then, can the healing can begin.
Exactly. Also was going to go away from FITS if Obama won. But ingrates like this dickhead and blowards like Limbaugh love this misery…they feed off it. A Romney win would be boring to them.
Difference is, at least Rush gets paid well for his entertainment. Little T picks his scabs all day and waits for mom to bring meatloaf to the basement.
I said it. And not only that, I believed it.
I thought there was no way in %!** that the people of this country could be that D$%^ Stupid, after what Obama has done to this country…
I was DEAD Wrong…
You elected him…You take what he gives you.
PS: It’s not about me..It never was…
Speaking of predictions.
NOTE to Big T; Look at where PPP is and where Rasmussen is.
The 28 polling organizations by the accuracy of their final, national pre-election estimates, via the Fordham University Department of Political Science:
1. PPP (D)*
2. Daily Kos/SEIU/PPP*
3. YouGov*
4. Ipsos/Reuters*
5. Purple Strategies
6. NBC/WSJ
6. CBS/NYT
6. YouGov/Economist
9. UPI/CVOTER
10. IBD/TIPP
11. Angus-Reid*
12. ABC/WP*
13. Pew Research*
13. Hartford Courant/UConn*
15. CNN/ORC
15. Monmouth/SurveyUSA
15. Politico/GWU/Battleground
15. FOX News
15. Washington Times/JZ Analytics
15. Newsmax/JZ Analytics
15. American Research Group
15. Gravis Marketing
23. Democracy Corps (D)*
24. Rasmussen
24. Gallup
26. NPR
27. National Journal*
28. AP/GfK
It’s yours. you elected him… I encourage every American w/ any wealth to get it out of America…
If can cut back on any income sources, as I can, barter…stay away from government tracking of your money…
Let the people who elected Obama PAY
FOR him….Let the gas price skyrocket…and if you Freeze when you cannot afford heat…will that open your eyes…Let Obama give you insurance, instead of paying government-burdened prices for it…
Romney offered a solution…too many choose to contiue the mess…
Nothing the Givers can do…but figure out nhow to keep theirs…and let Obama figure out how to fund his promises and hand-outs…
I say this is an effective means of Dissent…and do it by hiding any money you have…or deal in non-cash methods…
When it collpases, be well-armed…and let them keep what they wrought…
Fair enough…right???
I see you’ve admitted you were wrong BigT. That’s a start. But the world will go on and your silly knee-jerk reactions of what to do next are not particularly well thought out. Hide money?
There are money managers who have developed plans to protect wealth from socialistic policies…
I had a counselor approach me about re-structing my money plan. I told to wait til after the elction…
I called him this morning. This is becoming a cottage industry..
Comunism proved that if you take one man’s money, he will quit making it…
I say you can dissent by keeping the hand-outs from the liberal poverty pimps…
MAKE Obama find a way to pay for his hand-outs…and/or watch the economy CRASH and Burn…
Just Arm up, for when the savages come after you…
There is no doubt we’re in a war…and the way Conservatives are fighting it, we’re losing it…
We need to adapt the Geurilla tactics the leftist radicals used to rake what we earned, and pillage it…
I use to subscribe to those conservative web sites like Ann Coulter and Glen Beck, etc, just to see what they were saying. I got all those offers about investing in gold, how you don’t really have to pay income tax because its unconstitutional, and how to survive the eminent economic collapse, how to keep the money away from the Government. If you actually received a call, you must subscribe to a lot of those sites. Maybe Hannity or Rush.
For some reason they also sold a lot of things like vitamins and seeds as well. I suspect they are a cottage industry in their own mind, or the mind of the paranoid right. I suggest you stash your wealth in Switzerland and the Grand Caymens.
Of course I should have warned you that both Switzerland and the Grand Caymens are more socialistic than the US or anything Obama has ever proposed. Both have scary things like socialized medicine, and restrict gun ownership.
I just hope that Mitt and Ann Romney will now go away.
It was dizzying trying to keep up with all of Mitt’s lies.
Oh Scotty Rusmussen, the favorite of the Republicans falls down to 24th. PPP, the liberal favorite, #1.
One is based in reality, the other, like Fox News, a comforting echo chamber for those that create their own reality.
Romney could have won if he was more consistent and less yoyo. He was all over the place in what he believed.
Keep telling yourself that George, if it makes you feel better. It wasn’t the things he vacilated on that cost him the election, it was the things he was consistant on.
Tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
Dismanteling Medicare
Dismanteling Medicaid for nursing home residents
Support for Arizon’s papers law
Support for voter suppression laws
Support for Mourdock and people like him
Telling people they if they can’t afford insurnce they just need to go to the emergency room.
Defending a tax system where a person makeing 80k a year pays a higher effective tax rate than he does while earning several hundred million a year.
His unwillingness to show us his tax returns.