If there’s one thing the MSM agrees on, it’s that Republican victories in the 2014 midterm elections were caused by low turnout. From the linked article:
A sharp drop in turnout, a wave of voter unhappiness with both parties and a geographically favorable slate of Senate races combined to give the GOP the advantage it needed to pull off an unexpectedly strong victory Tuesday, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. [Emphasis added.]
The Washington Post called it a “low turnout election”:
A low turnout election didn’t benefit Republicans everywhere. http://t.co/FuWwsqkGUZ pic.twitter.com/7bLlgzj17X
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) November 5, 2014
Sounding a similar theme, the NY Times’ Derek Willis emphasized low turnout in Maryland:
Overall turnout for the [Maryland] governor’s race was down 11 percent from 2010…
During his press conference yesterday, Mr. Obama implied that low turnout was to blame for the Democrats’ poor showing:
Part of what I also think we’ve got to look at is the two-thirds of people who were eligible to vote and just didn’t vote. You know, one of the things that I’m very proud of in 2008 and 2012, when I ran for office, was we got people involved who hadn’t been involved before. We got folks to vote who hadn’t voted before: particularly young people. And — and that was part of the promise.
It’s true that turnout was low in some states. There seems to have been a big drop-off in California, New Jersey and New York — three large, deep-blue states where there were no close Senate or gubernatorial races. That dragged down turnout numbers nationally. But in nearly a dozen states where Republicans won big statewide races, turnout was up relative to the 2010 mid-term elections. Here’s a state-by-state breakdown:
US voter turnout was down from 2010 in almost every state: http://t.co/JIVikr6G7i – @NateSilver538 pic.twitter.com/UE3AkRC5Yo
— ABC News (@ABC) November 6, 2014
So the “sharp drop in turnout” described by AP was actually a turnout increase in battleground states Colorado, North Carolina, Arkansas, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine — all places in which the GOP performed well.
The numbers are preliminary estimates based on the AP’s own numbers. Turnout may rise even more once all the absentee ballots are counted.
Campaign guru Patrick Ruffini correctly calls B.S. on the MSM’s phony “low turnout” meme. As he notes, turnout tends to be highest when Senate and gubernatorial races are close.
North Carolina turnout:
2014 – 40.7%
2010 – 39.8% (non-competitive)
2006 – 32.5% (non-competitive)— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 6, 2014
Colorado turnout:
2014: 52.4% (very competitive)
2010: 51.7% (very competitive)
2006: 48.1% (somewhat competitive)
2002: 46.6% (competitive)— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 6, 2014
The GOP won yesterday when turnout went up, and Dems when it went down. Let's cut this nonsense that GOP favors low turnout.
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 6, 2014
Republicans outperformed the final polls by 10% or more even when turnout went up (e.g. AR)
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 6, 2014
- Record high turnout in North Carolina, where Republican Thom Tillis prevailed over Democrat Kay Hagan.
- High turnout in Maine, where incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud by 5 percentage points.
- High turnout in Kentucky, where Sen. Mitch McConnell defeated Democrat Alison Grimes by a mere 15 percentage points.
- High turnout in Arkansas. Somehow that didn’t prevent Republican Tom Cotton from winning a U.S. Senate seat,
What about Maryland? The New York Times’ Willis said turnout there was down 11 percent. However, the map from ABC News shows a turnout decline of only 0.9%.
Maryland turnout:
2014: 45.5% (holy moly Batman!)
2010: 46.7% (meh)
2006: 47.2% (competitive)
2002: 46.8% (very competitive)— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 6, 2014
I would think that the shocking results from MD would have meant really low turnout. Turnout virtually unchanged from 2010, 2006, 2002.
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 6, 2014
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Update:
you'll be shocked, but turnout in Wisconsin was really high — highest midterm turnout in at least 64 yrs: http://t.co/ELzvxmggUR
— Craig Gilbert (@WisVoter) November 5, 2014
El Paso County shatters election turnout record. Nicely done. http://t.co/4i16HQZRQ2 #copolitics
— Jon Caldara (@JonCaldara) November 5, 2014
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