2024 US Presidential Election Thread

[Jezza819]

Those states that are definitely blue and definitely red just mean that so much of the country doesn't matter when it comes to campaigning. By coincidence, I happened to be reading about the 1960 election earlier today and it stood out that Richard Nixon spent time and resources (read: wasted time and resources) campaigning in all fifty states whereas John Kennedy focused almost exclusively on swing states. Considering that Nixon had good cause to cry foul on Democratic voter fraud in Michigan and Texas, two states which would have given him the Presidency had he won them, had he similarly focused just on swing states he might have done better in those now-crucial few states that actually matter. A bit ironic that the guy who tries to reach everyone gets it "wrong" and the guy who games the system gets it "right".

And I always love resharing this image:

The final five weeks of the 2004 election; personal appearances and millions of dollars spent on ad campaigns.

Look how much of the country just doesn't matter.

It's not exactly that it doesn't matter.

It's just that a lot of those bigger EV states are so firmly entrenched in one party or the other that it's nearly pointless for either side to give them more than lip service.

If you did away with the outdated Electoral College, that map would look a lot different. Now candidates would be competing for EVEYONE'S vote and not just the ones highlighted on the map.

 

[Blitz24]

If you did away with the outdated Electoral College, that map would look a lot different. Now candidates would be competing for EVEYONE'S vote and not just the ones highlighted on the map.

That means Trump is going to ring your doorbell.

 

[Famine]

If you did away with the outdated Electoral College, that map would look a lot different. Now candidates would be competing for EVEYONE'S vote and not just the ones highlighted on the map.

I fundamentally agree with the concept that the states vote for the President rather than the people, but also disagree with the concept that each state should be winner-takes-all - which I think harms third parties waaaaaay too much.

I did a thing a few elections back where I calculated what the results would look like if each state's EC votes were assigned by the percentage split of the popular vote within the state, and it does give some fun outcomes.