I know the 24-hour news media has a lot of space to fill, and more times than I'm sure they'd care to admit, they fill that space with information that is less useful than a how-to book on reading how-to books. Having said that, though, they really need to cut it out with their seeming obsession with "referendums" during election season.
Newsflash: Not everything is a referendum! In fact, unless a large majority of the people vote, it's difficult to call any election season a referendum on a previous or current administration. After President Obama was elected and the Democrats lost midterm elections as they so often do, that wasn't a referendum on Obama. That was history repeating itself. When Donald Trump got "elected" president with the vote of roughly 25% of the people whom were eligible, that was not a referendum on the previous president, who had left office with approximately a 60% approval rating. Finally, last night's Georgia special election wasn't going to be a referendum for or against President Trump, regardless of who won.
Anymore, we're lucky to get 60% of voters out to the booths for general elections, 40% for the midterms, and that number decreases even further for special elections. Would winning the traditionally red 6th district have been a huge win for Democrats last night? Yes. But is a loss as detrimental as some are saying? No. Democrats haven't won that district in roughly three decades. The last time they did so was when Jimmy Carter sat at the Oval Office. So, let's be realistic here, Democrat Jon Ossoff losing in Georgia's 6th district last night was not an earth-shattering surprise. Just because he lost, it doesn't suddenly mean the country approves of Donald Trump or of the healthcare repeal-and-replace bill. A poll released yesterday has Trump sitting at just a 36% approval rating, and that's over two times as high as the Republican healthcare bill polls, which is currently sitting at 17% approval.
Last night's defeat just served as a "bigly" learning experience for all parties involved. From it, the media should have learned that they can't realistically coin every election as a potential "referendum." The Democrats should have learned that, while they're continuing to make inroads in traditionally red territory, they still have a ways to go, and it's probably not the best of ideas to throw inexperienced 30-year-olds from outside the district they'll be representing out into the fray. Lastly, the Republicans should have learned that, with Donald Trump as president, no territory is completely safe, regardless of how red it's been in the past. Will any of these parties take these lessons with them? We'll have to wait and see in November of 2018. Until then, it's all speculation and space-filling BS.
Newsflash: Not everything is a referendum! In fact, unless a large majority of the people vote, it's difficult to call any election season a referendum on a previous or current administration. After President Obama was elected and the Democrats lost midterm elections as they so often do, that wasn't a referendum on Obama. That was history repeating itself. When Donald Trump got "elected" president with the vote of roughly 25% of the people whom were eligible, that was not a referendum on the previous president, who had left office with approximately a 60% approval rating. Finally, last night's Georgia special election wasn't going to be a referendum for or against President Trump, regardless of who won.
Anymore, we're lucky to get 60% of voters out to the booths for general elections, 40% for the midterms, and that number decreases even further for special elections. Would winning the traditionally red 6th district have been a huge win for Democrats last night? Yes. But is a loss as detrimental as some are saying? No. Democrats haven't won that district in roughly three decades. The last time they did so was when Jimmy Carter sat at the Oval Office. So, let's be realistic here, Democrat Jon Ossoff losing in Georgia's 6th district last night was not an earth-shattering surprise. Just because he lost, it doesn't suddenly mean the country approves of Donald Trump or of the healthcare repeal-and-replace bill. A poll released yesterday has Trump sitting at just a 36% approval rating, and that's over two times as high as the Republican healthcare bill polls, which is currently sitting at 17% approval.
Last night's defeat just served as a "bigly" learning experience for all parties involved. From it, the media should have learned that they can't realistically coin every election as a potential "referendum." The Democrats should have learned that, while they're continuing to make inroads in traditionally red territory, they still have a ways to go, and it's probably not the best of ideas to throw inexperienced 30-year-olds from outside the district they'll be representing out into the fray. Lastly, the Republicans should have learned that, with Donald Trump as president, no territory is completely safe, regardless of how red it's been in the past. Will any of these parties take these lessons with them? We'll have to wait and see in November of 2018. Until then, it's all speculation and space-filling BS.
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