Does the 2012 Obama campaign deserve the hype? Many journalists have praised the technological and strategic advantage of Obama over Romney’s campaign. The 2012 Obama campaign is often described as an extension and improvement of the 2008 effort, which has been credited as one of the first campaigns to make […] Read more »
Obama’s Victory Wasn’t Thanks to Black Turnout
After decades dreaming of high black turnout, Democrats finally got their wish in the last two elections, with obvious results. President Barack Obama overcame a strong Republican performance among white voters last November, and Monday, an analysis by William Frey, a demographer at Brookings, found that black turnout actually exceeded […] Read more »
Long-Term Trends, Not Racism, Cost Obama Millions of Votes
In every election over the last 20 years, Appalachia shifted toward Republicans and the West revolted against the incumbent party’s candidate. These patterns continued in 2008 and 2012, but Seth Stephens-Davidowitz argues that these more recent manifestations are due to racism, since they correlate with the prevalence of racist Google […] Read more »
In Political Campaigns, Do You Get What You Pay For?
Mark Hanna, the Republican Party political boss, famously declared at the outset of the McKinley-Bryan campaign of 1896: “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember the second.” In the wake of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act and the […] Read more »
With Popularity Fading at Home, Is Jindal the New Romney?
Monday’s article on the nation’s least popular governors did not include Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, because he is not up for re-election in 2014. … But recent surveys suggest that Mr. Jindal has become very unpopular in his home state amid a series of battles on fiscal policy. … […] Read more »
2012 Post-Election Meaning for 2014
Last November on election day McLaughlin & Associates completed our post-election poll. As we all know President Obama was re-elected by as decisive a margin as George W. Bush received in 2004. It was an election where President Obama won the Democratic vote 92% to 7%. Governor Romney won the […] Read more »