I'm not sure which bothers me more, the a$$holes who are trying to take away the fundamental right to vote for so many people, or the people who have been given this incredible privilege that so few in human history have ever had and that so many have sacrificed so much so they could have it, and then they deliberately ignore their duty to use it.
So the media is once again pushing the Republican wave, Democratic doom and gloom meme because of yet another Gallup poll supposedly showing a lack of Democratic enthusiasm. Well we're going to look at the hard numbers down below to show how this is BS.
But first, this business that Democratic voters have to be bribed with more sugar from the Democratic leaders before they fulfill their citizen responsibilities to get out and vote, I find to be insulting. Is this really who we are? If we don't get everything we want we're going to go home and whine while millions of people suffer under the cruel and selfish rule of the Republican Oligarchs? No! I don't believe it for a second!
There are plenty of things we all want, and there are plenty of things I want personally.
I want Medicare for all, I want 100% government funded elections, I want an end to gerrymandering, I want an income tax structure more like the Kennedy 60's than the Reagan 80's, I want a giant government jobs stimulus program that covers science, education, art, and a lot more than just infrastructure, I want a smaller defense budget without the fancy BS designed for wars we'll never fight, I want free education through college whether you were born here or brought here as a child, I want a livable minimum wage, I want women to make their own health decisions and to get the same pay for the same work as men...
I know that when I vote in this election I'm still not going to get even 10% of the things I want. But I also know that if people like me don't vote, I'm going to get a big fat 0% of the things I want, and my want list is going to grow much bigger and millions of Americans and people world wide are going to suffer under the Republicans.
Now let's take a look at those scary numbers that are worse than 2010 and have a few Democratic supporters sending up the white flag.
A Gallup poll shows the Republicans are 12% more engaged in this election than the Democrats!
The same poll shows the Republicans were 18% more engaged at the same time in 2010!
Well so much for things being worse than 2010! We're still 3 weeks out from the election, so let's see how things went in the last 3 weeks of 2010 according to Gallup.
The first thing to notice is the Republicans almost ALWAYS have an advantage. The mean, selfish, fearful craziness of Republicans drives them to the polls.
But look at 2010! In the last month, the Republican engagement advantage dropped in half by almost 9%. In late Aug of this year, their advantage was 15%, and a month later it's down to 12%, and Democratic voters are just now starting to pay attention.
Ok, so these are just poll numbers. Well the vote has already started in some states and we're starting to get some numbers in, so let's see if the doom and gloom for Dems meme carries over into REAL numbers.
Here's the early vote numbers, as reported by electproject.org for 2014 for Florida and Iowa.
Oct 10
State % requested % returned % of 2010 total ballots
by party by party cast
Florida D 38.9 D 33.3 6.0
R 42.0 R 49.3
I 19.1 I 17.4
Florida 2010 total ballots returned by party D-36.5 R-49.2 O-14.3
Iowa D 44.1 D 46.9 10.5
R 36.1 R 37.1
I 19.6 I 15.9
Iowa 2010 total ballots returned by party D-43.7 R-38 I-18.3
As you can see, the Democrats have to get more of their ballots returned in Florida, but if they end up getting returned in the same proportion as they were requested, the Republicans will have a substantial drop while the Dems will have a slight gain from 2010. The Republican drop in Iowa is less, but it's a drop none the less.
So most of these numbers are showing the Democrats are doing better than 2010 while the Republicans are doing a bit worse. And keep in mind the Gallup poll is a national poll while the big fights for senators and governors will take place in about a dozen states. Also, the Dems are putting a huge effort into making sure 2014 isn't like 2010.
So forget the doom and gloom, and if you really want to be sure we don't have another 2010, then get out and help with GOTV! GOTV! GOTV!
UPDATE: A good suggestion from one of the comments below, " volunteer at local Democratic office to help with phone banks"! Contact your favorite candidate's office or the local Democrats to find out how you can help with GOTV!