A 51 Percent Mandate?

[Khephra]

When is a mandate a mandate?

President Bush won more than 59 million votes last week -- more than any other presidential candidate in history and enough, his supporters have said, to claim a mandate. But other comparisons between this year's election results and those of previous contests suggest his win was somewhat less decisive.

Bush's unofficial three-percentage-point margin of victory, for example, was the fifth smallest since 1920. John F. Kennedy won in 1960 with 0.2 percent more votes than Richard M. Nixon. Nixon, in turn, won in 1968 with a slim 0.7 percent advantage over Hubert H. Humphrey. In 1976, Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford by 2.1 percent. In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral one. Conversely, 10 of the previous 21 presidential races were won by at least 10 percentage points -- and five of them were decided by more than 20 points.

Bush's chunk of the popular vote -- unofficially, 51 percent -- also places him in the middle of this historical pack. Thirteen of the winners of the previous 21 elections won a larger share of the vote. Lyndon B. Johnson won the highest percentage, when he swamped Barry Goldwater in 1964 with 61.1 percent. Bill Clinton won with the lowest, when he took 43 percent in 1992. Bush, however, is the first to win a majority of the popular vote since 1988.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41006-2004Nov10.html

[aquart]

1. Yeah, yeah, Karl's early Xmas gift to the whiny boy.

George was always ticked by not getting the popular vote.

But, since he lost a huge number of his former voters, where did the new ones come from?

[DireStrike]

2. He also thinks he earned "political capital" in the 2000 election.

And that he doesn't support a gay marriage amendment.
And Mission accomplished.
And that the draft... whoops, that one's not ready yet.

[unblock]

3. "no than any other" bu**sh** comparing him to george washington??

they're actually making a statement that shrub got more votes than, among others, washington, jefferson, and lincoln.

that statement alone proves their idiocy. there is NO comparison between shrubs dubious, fraud-ridden 51% popular vote and single-state electoral margin to washington's UNANIMOUS electoral college win.

just because there were only 3,000,000 voters way back then, what does it say about shrub that he got 59,000,000? nothing. it says we're a bigger country, that's all.

[0rganism]

6. Heh. Kerry got more votes than any other previous candidate too.

It's no surprise the accolades for bush don't mention this inconvenient fact.

[IrishDem74]

21. Thank you

I am so glad that someone other than me expressing this little publicized fact. There are days when the whole spin doctor thing makes me crazy! :shrug:

[newyawker99]

26. Hi IrishDem74!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Athomas]

9. And who received the second most votes for a presidential candidate ever?

John Kerry.

I guess that means Americans liked Kerry better than all the previous presidents as well.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi athomas!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[2Design]

4. not 51% of eligible voters - 31% for bush

29% for kerry
40% didn't even have the where withal to show up - they are the voters we need to go after

we don't need to try to convince some dumb rw to get a brain - we need to get these others to show up

[roseBudd]

15. California ( a very blue state) had really low turnout

probaly because being blue and late, a lot of voters who would have voted Kerry did not bother. Had they, Bush would not have won the popular vote.

[goclark]

16. Not the lines that I heard about and saw

Maybe they messed with our votes too!

Democrats were energized and VOTED in huge numbers.

[rinsd]

22. You are very wrong.....CA had fantastic turnout

Turnout in CA was outstanding....over 11M votes counted so far and the absentees and provisionals are not done. It is estimated that will push to over 12M in a state with 16.5M registered voters. Way above 60% which would be the highest turnout for CA since 1964. Kerry got more votes here than Gore or Clinton.

http://vote2004.ss.ca.gov/Returns/pres/00.htm

http://fox40.trb.com/news/ktxl-110404voting,0,3203946.story?coll=ktxl-home-2

[roseBudd]

23. I read that the percentage (not the numbers) was low

[rinsd]

24. Not true....the % of the registered voting is the highest since 1964

Maybe you're referring to the percentage in relation to population?

That is horse of a different color.

[roseBudd]

28. Yes percentage of population

Nonbattleground states perhaps lower than battleground?

[2Design]

29. % of register voters high but % of voters was not as high here

40 million registered voters did NOT vote

[0rganism]

5. I think they presume the Man Date from the changes in congress

Had bush won but Democrats gained seats in congress, it could be construed that his support was sufficient-yet-weak. However, to be re-elected by 3.5 million majority and have additional support in both houses of congress, well, that's pretty solid stuff.

His support may not be deep, but it is wide. We're going to see a lot of changes in the next four years.

[sweetheart]

7. Jefferson Davis had a mandate as well

Bush's mandate will clearly be to wage war on women, civil liberties,
civil society, and all things democratic to see if he can spread
the neo-slavery of the 21st century.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Not So Much a Mandate as a Hostile Takeover

[Athomas]

10. Man Date?

I thought dubya was agin' that sorta thing!

(shamelessly stolen from Bill Mitchell) :)

[dArKeR]

11. I heard Whorie Fineman say on Franken that 51% is a 'mandate' so it must

be true! I also heard before the election on TV a veteren NBC VP say that Kerry bringing up Cheney's lesbian daughter was 'completely out of bounds and disgraceful.' But the Whore VP didn't mention that she is activly campaigning for her Whore Father on all the TV shows. And that 'gay' morals was the central issue for the Fascist Christians. So why can't it be talked about? And why isn't DICK Cheney questioned for having genes associated with demons and Satans as I've heard Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell same gay people have?

[OneBlueSky]

12. mandate is in the eye of the beholder . . .

Bush considered his 500,000 vote loss in 2000 a mandate . . .

a 3.5 million vote win (which I don't believe for a minute) is, to Bush, a message from God! . . .

[Skittles]

13. WHEN HAS THAT BASTARD

EVER F***ING ACTED LIKE HE DIDN'T HAVE A MANDATE????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[barb162]

18. yes that is exactly correct. He acted gangbusters in 2000 when he

lost

[SouthStar]

17. Does he have a mandate?

No.

But in 1992 after Clinton was elected with 43%, magazine covers had pictures of Clinton with the headline "Mandate" and the Clinton team heavily used the word mandate.

If a 43% vote total can be called a mandate, it is hard to argue against one who got 51-52% using the word.

[Skittles]

27. Clinton knew the word MANDATE

didn't mean ACTING LIKE A F***ING ASSHOLE

[zanana]

19. He's president of half the country...

It's fitting that he got 51% of the vote.

[Mandate My Ass]

20. Mandate My Ass

Some sentiments bear repetition.

[Zero Gravitas]

25. Its not even 51%

only 59% of registered voters actually voted, so more accurately the results are:

Bush (F) 30%
Kerry (D) 29%
None of the Above 41%

When 70% of the country does not vote for you, you do not have a mandate.

[spooky3]

30. it's the smallest margin for an incumbent, particularly wartime--right?