I never understood the function of the electoral college. Shouldn't the popular vote just win?
2016 US Presidential Elections | Trump Wins
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to talk about United's dreadful home defeat at the hands of Big Ange's Tottenham Hotspur. Should this have been the end of Ten Hag? How long does he actually have left? And does Nik finally want ETH out?!
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I never understood the function of the electoral college. Shouldn't the popular vote just win?
It should. But this was how the Founding fathers set it up. It has worked so far.
Democracy isn't democracy as long as you have things like a manipulatable electoral college, gerrymandering and other such things.
(I'm repeating what I've been saying in virtually every post in this thread)
Iowa has a 10-15% lead for Hillary over Sanders.
Yet, in the head-to-heads with the Republicans,
Sanders beats everyone bar Rubio
Clinton does worse in terms of margin with everyone and loses to both Rubio and Cruz, and ties with Ben fecking Carson.
And these are PPP polls which consistently have Sanders below other pollsters.
She is the base-only candidate who will need a proper turnout to win. Since she is the nominee for sure, I do hope they manage that part well (getting the minority and female vote out in force)
Iowa has a 10-15% lead for Hillary over Sanders.
Yet, in the head-to-heads with the Republicans,
Sanders beats everyone bar Rubio
Clinton does worse in terms of margin with everyone and loses to both Rubio and Cruz, and ties with Ben fecking Carson.
And these are PPP polls which consistently have Sanders below other pollsters.
She is the base-only candidate who will need a proper turnout to win. Since she is the nominee for sure, I do hope they manage that part well (getting the minority and female vote out in force)
Because Sanders has far less recognition among the general populace than Hillary, so people have a more neutral view on him. A campaign as the nominee would degrade that severely. Ben Carson's numbers are instructive in this respect - people that don't pay a great deal of interest think he comes across as a mild mannered guy that was a neurosurgeon so must be alright. But he'd quite clearly never do better than Bush in a general election.
These polls are who 'who you like' polls. No serious discussion on policies have taken place. Hillary will be the nominee for the Dems. Whoever gets the nomination for the GOP will then have to lay out policies.
That is when voters can see differences. In fact if it is Trump and he pivots, his policies may be surprisingly more centrist than either Cruz or Rubio and will be a greater threat to Hillary.
Which is why I got more concerned that this trend holds for state-specific head-to-heads (this one is from Iowa where they've definitely seen more of everyone)
It's still a general election sample rather than a primary voter sample. Most voters in the general election don't take notice of the primaries, they haven't put any thought into it yet.
True, but it's still worrying. I pretty much hate Hillary but the Republicans are an order of magnitude worse.
I'm sure this has already been posted, but it still boggles the mind how the working class Republican base fall for shit like this every single time.
http://www.moneytalksnews.com/why-youre-probably-better-investing-than-donald-trump/
It may be amusingly obvious us, but it evidently isn't to huge swathes of the American public. That like Romney and Bush before him, Trump can mount a serious run for President with no other credentials than his presumed business acumen, without anyone daring to point out what a big steaming pile of misnomeric bollocks that is, surely highlights a problem? Not least with the media. That all three can, and did masquerade as the great white hope of the American Dream (™) when their actual achievements merely ranked somewhere between 'maintaining' and 'not fecking up' their vast inherited empires of Scrooge McDuck-like wealth, would be impressive if it weren't so terrifyingly daft. Bush can even boast the added coup of pranking half the country into believing the spoiled problem child of a political dynasty was a salt of the earth cowboy, merely by playing a sitcom idiot and occasionally wearing a big hat.
All the while the genuine American Dream (™) narrative of the publicly educated, ethnic and gender disadvantaged Obama and Clinton are seen as elitist anathemas to the welfare of the good old, hard working, capitalist loving regular Joe.
At least our Conservatives know they can't get away with such fantastical spin. They might throw out an empty liberal platitude now and then, but even D-Cam knows he can't paint himself as a meritocratic success, let alone a working class hero, without looking like Peter Capaldi's Dr Who, dressed up in a hoody and ray bans by a desperate demographic chasing BBC exec.
http://www.moneytalksnews.com/why-youre-probably-better-investing-than-donald-trump/
It may be amusingly obvious us, but it evidently isn't to huge swathes of the American public. That like Romney and Bush before him, Trump can mount a serious run for President with no other credentials than his presumed business acumen, without anyone daring to point out what a big steaming pile of misnomeric bollocks that is, surely highlights a problem? Not least with the media. That all three can, and did masquerade as the great white hope of the American Dream (™) when their actual achievements merely ranked somewhere between 'maintaining' and 'not fecking up' their vast inherited empires of Scrooge McDuck-like wealth, would be impressive if it weren't so terrifyingly daft. Bush can even boast the added coup of pranking half the country into believing the spoiled problem child of a political dynasty was a salt of the earth cowboy, merely by playing a sitcom idiot and occasionally wearing a big hat.
All the while the genuine American Dream (™) narrative of the publicly educated, ethnic and gender disadvantaged Obama and Clinton are seen as elitist anathemas to the welfare of the good old, hard working, capitalist loving regular Joe.
At least our Conservatives know they can't get away with such fantastical spin. They might throw out an empty liberal platitude now and then, but even D-Cam knows he can't paint himself as a meritocratic success, let alone a working class hero, without looking like Peter Capaldi's Dr Who, dressed up in a hoody and ray bans by a desperate demographic chasing BBC exec.
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I don't think the average educated American thinks of Trump as some kind of genius investor or businessman, the most rational reason I've heard anyone give towards voting for him is that he is running his campaign without any big donors and lobbyists like Clinton or Jeb Bush and he has fewer if none to please if he does eventually win the presidency.
The low IQ mouth-breathers are running behind him because he says things that are borderline KKK manual material and the stupid ones do because they see him on celebrity apprentice and think he is judge of all rational things business-wise.
Just as I type this, Clinton guffawed at an Iowa rally declaring her insistence on pushing for clean renewable energy while completely forgetting a $160k campaign donation from Chevron within the calendar year. Along with a completely regrettable tenure as secretary of state, people realize that her first 4 years in presidency will likely be spent paying back all those she owes a favor to.
It's implicit though, isn't it? Not as much as it was in the Romney race, but still at best a subconscious factor. Without it he's just "some guy" (which itself would be a Bushian misnomer) ...It's a very ingrained GOP mentality to think successful private businessmen are inherently good leaders. It still baffles me why there's been no push to dismiss him as a crazy entitled rich boy. It'd be the first shot fired in the UK. How the Dems have weakly conceded to the "elitist" moniker is mental.
It's like a weird South Park episode where Cartman convinces the whole school that Stan & Kyle are fat, and tries to discredit them with a string of fat jokes, without anyone once calling him on it.
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They cannot insult a person that owns up to his entitlement and wears it proudly as a badge of honor. When Trump was roasted on Comedy Central he said everything was open to ridicule including his appearance, family and Russian bride except any question about his monetary worth. He wants to be known as a wealthy person who was born into and lives with great fortune.
It's a very ingrained American mentality. Besides, half of the Dem establishment belongs to the exact same group. The Kennedys, Gores etc...
I suppose it's just odd to Brits, what with our similarly ingrained class hang ups.
The love story continues:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/trump-praises-putin-216929
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/trump-praises-putin-216929
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls1h1 hour ago
30% of Republican primary voters nationally say they support bombing Agrabah. Agrabah is the country from Aladdin. #NotTheOnion
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls38m38 minutes ago
Here are the results of our GOP poll. Agrabah is Q38: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/GOPResults.pdf…
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls51m51 minutes ago
Trump is at 45% with Republicans who want to bomb Aladdin and only 22% with ones who don't want to bomb Aladdin
It's funny...but it's not
30% of Republican primary voters nationally say they support bombing Agrabah. Agrabah is the country from Aladdin. #NotTheOnion
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls38m38 minutes ago
Here are the results of our GOP poll. Agrabah is Q38: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/GOPResults.pdf…
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls51m51 minutes ago
Trump is at 45% with Republicans who want to bomb Aladdin and only 22% with ones who don't want to bomb Aladdin
It's funny...but it's not
Some really bad stuff for Rubio in there, lower favourability than Trump and doesn't get much of the vote when candidates are whittled down.PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls1h1 hour ago
30% of Republican primary voters nationally say they support bombing Agrabah. Agrabah is the country from Aladdin. #NotTheOnion
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls38m38 minutes ago
Here are the results of our GOP poll. Agrabah is Q38: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/GOPResults.pdf…
PublicPolicyPolling@ppppolls51m51 minutes ago
Trump is at 45% with Republicans who want to bomb Aladdin and only 22% with ones who don't want to bomb Aladdin
It's funny...but it's not
Tbh, I think there is a big difference between the American Dream and American's Dream. The good old American Dream is carried on mostly by immigrants who believe in opportunity according to ability and all that! The standard American's dream is Trump. Loud, brash, obnoxious, rich and a attitude to match!
Watching Trump on the Jimmy Kimmel show and I must say that he came across very well and it seems clear that he himself doesn't believe in a lot of the shit that he says .Also really enjoyed the way Kimmel put his questions to Trump.
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Trump for me is this cycle's Obama. He is garnering a lot of excitement.
If you listen to what he has to say beyond his fearmongering bs, he is farther left than Hillary. Single payer. He is not hawkish. He wants to tax the top tier.
He is more serious than Jeb Bush who wants to get us into another war.
I think he will be the nominee and will be a formidable opponent to Hillary.
If you listen to what he has to say beyond his fearmongering bs, he is farther left than Hillary. Single payer. He is not hawkish. He wants to tax the top tier.
He is more serious than Jeb Bush who wants to get us into another war.
I think he will be the nominee and will be a formidable opponent to Hillary.
I mean that he has clearly realized that there are a large number of people in the country who want to hear some of the bigotry filled stuff he says and he has a much higher chance of winning if he gets all these people to vote for him. I find it hard to believe that he genuinely believes that if he became president then he will build a wall or that he will remove all Muslims
While it's a bit pointless what I'm about to say(As a Irish person who's never been to the US).
I do think for us(Europeans)we fail to connect/notice the energy that is in the U.S it's still a fairy young country with ton of excitement, something Europe has lost mainly due to age. Douglas Murray(Who I'm not a big fan of although seems decent enough)mentioned something similar in that after end of the soviet union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe essentially said ok that's it we've tried and seen everything, let's all just have a bit of a nap.
Should say I'm clearly not quoting Douglas Murray, it just my shite attempt at trying to summarise a podcast that I heard a few weeks ago.
So while I would agree that a Trump like figure would not be possible in Europe or at least not in the UK, I would have to say the same would also apply to a Barack Obama like figure, well the energy be hide the whole campaign and event(Obama seem a centrist at best), it was a world changing event which is not something most countries can say about their elections.
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The way I see it Trump is basically doing Hillary Clinton a huge favour.
That might be your definition of an American but it's clearly a generalization.
He's long since abandoned his support for single payer and the wealth tax.
I've heard him talking about taxing the wealthy a few times during his campaign to be fair.
he was quite evasive about single payer and he mentioned wealth tax only a month or so ago.
He is businessman not an asset stripper like Romney. single payer will reduce costs.
He used to talk about a 14% tax for the richest, but he's disavowed it now. He also wants to abolish the estate tax. He's certainly not to the left of Hillary on it.
From June this year.
Ofc it is. When we are talking about a country it's hard not to generalize.
I think I heard him talking about taxing the ultra-rich, like hedge fund managers, who make ridiculous money but who pay little or no taxes by taking advantage of loopholes in the tax system.
Ok well I disagree with your thoughts about what the 'standard American dream' is then...
Huge kerfuffle going down with the Sanders campaign and the DNC.
correct. Thats what I heard too.
This data breach issue is another example of the DNC leadership trying to strong arm their way to make sure Hillary is the nominee. Its going to turn a lot of voters off. Hillary can lose if she goes this route.
I've despised Debbie Wasserman Schultz for a long time - she is a bonafide bigot. But, that's a personal issue. Her 'performance' today has been nothing short of disgraceful.
The President just finished his news conference. He is just so cool.
btw the Republican party is the only party amongst developed nations...[even far right parties in Europe who are anti-immigration agree there is climate change] who deny climate change. When asked if he was embarrased about this. He said he was not a member of that party to a lot a laughter.
btw the Republican party is the only party amongst developed nations...[even far right parties in Europe who are anti-immigration agree there is climate change] who deny climate change. When asked if he was embarrased about this. He said he was not a member of that party to a lot a laughter.
She purposefully reduced the number of debates and has scheduled them on Saturday Night. Right so a few people as possible get to watch them.
It would be almost funny if all this backfired.
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