Congressional Republicans can say all they want that the voters gave them a mandate. The fact of the matter is, though, that's simply not true.
It'd be one thing if the public approved of Congressional Republicans over President Obama and 50-60%+ of voters actually voted (even that number is sad). However, when just 37% of voters voted, and of those voters, President Obama held a 44% approval rating while Congress held an approval rating of just 16%, I'm sorry, but voters didn't give the GOP a mandate.
The public was largely angry and/or indifferent, so those that were angry tended to vote for the party that wasn't in control, so some semblance of change could occur (or the illusion of it), and since Democrats held the majority in the Senate, voters decided it was time to give the Republicans a turn at the Senate wheel.
Delving deeper into the numbers, even if I generously give Republicans 60% of the overall vote on election day, that's 60% of the 37% of people whom actually voted, which would be representative of just 22% of eligible voters. In other words, Congressional Republicans are saying since roughly 20% of eligible voters voted to place them in charge of both chambers of Congress, this gives them a mandate over these next 2+ years. How ridiculous does that sound?
The GOP: "What? About 1 in 5 people voted for us? Well, then, I think those numbers speak for themselves. People obviously love us and are giving us full permission to do everything we want to do!"
Well, I suppose representing 20% of people is about 19% more than the GOP typically represents, so I suppose that's, eh, something...
It'd be one thing if the public approved of Congressional Republicans over President Obama and 50-60%+ of voters actually voted (even that number is sad). However, when just 37% of voters voted, and of those voters, President Obama held a 44% approval rating while Congress held an approval rating of just 16%, I'm sorry, but voters didn't give the GOP a mandate.
The public was largely angry and/or indifferent, so those that were angry tended to vote for the party that wasn't in control, so some semblance of change could occur (or the illusion of it), and since Democrats held the majority in the Senate, voters decided it was time to give the Republicans a turn at the Senate wheel.
Delving deeper into the numbers, even if I generously give Republicans 60% of the overall vote on election day, that's 60% of the 37% of people whom actually voted, which would be representative of just 22% of eligible voters. In other words, Congressional Republicans are saying since roughly 20% of eligible voters voted to place them in charge of both chambers of Congress, this gives them a mandate over these next 2+ years. How ridiculous does that sound?
The GOP: "What? About 1 in 5 people voted for us? Well, then, I think those numbers speak for themselves. People obviously love us and are giving us full permission to do everything we want to do!"
Well, I suppose representing 20% of people is about 19% more than the GOP typically represents, so I suppose that's, eh, something...
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