US Midterm Elections Discussion

November 4th will be election day in the U.S. Though the presidential race is still forming, this midterm election has lots of close races that may give a hint about the likely outcome in 2016. Many pundits and pollsters see a strong chance that Republicans will gain a majority in the Senate in Tuesday's election. Think of the discussion attached to this post as the place to discuss the election: candidates, political advertising, voting technology, and the wisdom of voter ID laws. If you are voting, this chart of poll closing times might be useful. (And, as with the similar post from 10 years ago today, you can take a look at the current poll to see what the Zeitgeist looks like for Slashdot readers, and mentally fill in the past tense, if you're one of the many early voters; not much room in the poll question field.)

Comments

When Margin of victory less than Margin of fraud

[cold fjord]

Do Democrats Always Win Close Statewide Elections?

. For whatever reason, when statewide races are decided by less than 1 point, Democrats win almost three-quarters of the time. When the margin opens to 1-2 points, that advantage dissipates, and the Democrats win only half the races:

The more things changes...

[__aaclcg7560]

I hope the Republicans will skip shutting down the government this year. I was out of work for eights months after they shut down the government last year for nothing. I'm still trying to recover from the Great Recession after being out of work three of the last six years and filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. These hissy-fits in Washington don't help anyone.

Re:The more things changes...

[Tailhook]

I hope

Don't look to hope. Despite liberal rhetoric claiming shutdowns hurt the Right, Republicans are doing well this cycle; the 2013 shutdown has done them no harm. Listening to the MSM one might think we had sent all Republicans to gulags after two shutdowns in '95-'96, but in fact they held majorities in both houses for another 10 years.

As Federal debt mounts you should anticipate more frequent and severe disruptions and develop alternatives for yourself. The odds of more shutdowns in 2015-16 are high.

Re:Six Years Ago

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The Republicans won the house after losing popular vote. Such a dichotomy has happened only once in the last 200 years. The current power of the Republican party stems from the gerrymandered districts. (For example: In PA Republicans lost the popular vote by 2 % and took 13 out of 18 districts).

Now democrats who won in Obama wave of 2008 are defending deep red districts and might lose them. In 2016 the Republican senators who won in the 2010 wave will be defending. This Republican senate majority will not last long.

The House majority will last longer. The gerrymandered districts and the hold on the state election system is making the Republican primary the real battle to win. That is creating very very hard right wing reps who take extreme positions. They alienate all the emerging vote blocs with impunity because they invulnerable. It is creating big trouble for Republicans running for Statewide offices.