Well, I may be flat out wrong with how I’ve read all the data, but wrong for the wrong reason. What we are seeing in Georgia right now is that the GOP voters are not showing up and the Democrat voters are. The GOP reliably got over 50% of the vote in the combined legislative races for congress, state house, and state senate in November. Those voters are not showing up.
In my mind Trump owns this catastrophic defeat from one end to the other. For two months how, he's had his crazy people like Sidney Powell and Lin Wood running around shouting conspiracy theories. He's had all of his own attempts to push the fraud line, threatening the Governor, threatening the Secretary of State, and telling everyone in Georgia they couldn't trust the elections. And as a result of the self-administered well poisoning, lots of people stayed home despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent trying to get them to cast their ballots, one way or the other.
Anyone sane could have predicted that if you take a large group of exhausted voters, undermine their confidence in the meaning of their votes, and then beat them over the head with that messaging for two months while you fracture the party and force people to make terrible choices at the point of a spear, threaten others, and make everything about One Man and his fury, a lot of people are going to stay away. And that's what happened.
It would be good to see some hard numbers. For example, of those north GA counties which are said to be reliably republican, what percentage of registered republicans showed up to vote vs registered dems.
If a sizable number of republicans sat out the runoff the question is why? Were they so confident in a republican victory they couldn't be bothered? Or were they turned off because they think the general election was stolen? It's hard to tell. But if the latter, well thanks for nothing.
Whatever the reason, or reasons, the GA GOP needs to perform a ruthless assessment of what led to this debacle. GA is no longer solidly red. And with future races guaranteed to be more competitive the GA GOP needs figure out a way forward. And they need to do it fast since Loeffler's seat is up in two years, however, I don't see the current GA GOP leadership, especially the Chairman, as up to the challenge.
My own children were impacted by the fraud rhetoric even though I emphatically shared the reality with them. They did not vote in the run off thought they showed for the general.
Also, I was looking at Cobb’s data where I live. To be honest, I have heard a fair amount of republican friends state that they were flat out annoyed and no longer wanted to vote after being harassed nonstop by email, texts, calls, and doorknocks. I was aggravated myself by the incessant intrusions. Some days we received 3-4 visits to our door - from both sides of the aisle. I have never felt so harassed. I do wonder if this also impacted voter turnout negatively.
I typically spend 10 to 15 minutes in line to vote - time it in the middle of the day. Today, it took 35 minutes to vote. When I left my polling place, the line was 1 1/2 times the size that it was when I originally got in line. I do not know of one person that indicated that they were not voting in this election. If anything people seem to be more determined. Not challenging Erik - this is just counter-intuitive to what I have been experiencing.
You warned them this might happen. I’ve read comments all over social media from people saying it’s not worth voting...because the powers that be have already decided the winners and losers.
In my mind Trump owns this catastrophic defeat from one end to the other. For two months how, he's had his crazy people like Sidney Powell and Lin Wood running around shouting conspiracy theories. He's had all of his own attempts to push the fraud line, threatening the Governor, threatening the Secretary of State, and telling everyone in Georgia they couldn't trust the elections. And as a result of the self-administered well poisoning, lots of people stayed home despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent trying to get them to cast their ballots, one way or the other.
Anyone sane could have predicted that if you take a large group of exhausted voters, undermine their confidence in the meaning of their votes, and then beat them over the head with that messaging for two months while you fracture the party and force people to make terrible choices at the point of a spear, threaten others, and make everything about One Man and his fury, a lot of people are going to stay away. And that's what happened.
It is simply sad!! If the GOP does not get Trump out of the equation, they will keep loosing... sad.
It would be good to see some hard numbers. For example, of those north GA counties which are said to be reliably republican, what percentage of registered republicans showed up to vote vs registered dems.
If a sizable number of republicans sat out the runoff the question is why? Were they so confident in a republican victory they couldn't be bothered? Or were they turned off because they think the general election was stolen? It's hard to tell. But if the latter, well thanks for nothing.
Whatever the reason, or reasons, the GA GOP needs to perform a ruthless assessment of what led to this debacle. GA is no longer solidly red. And with future races guaranteed to be more competitive the GA GOP needs figure out a way forward. And they need to do it fast since Loeffler's seat is up in two years, however, I don't see the current GA GOP leadership, especially the Chairman, as up to the challenge.
Words mean things, and Trump and the Republicans may be learning that the hard way.
Erick
I don’t agree, I voted Dec 14. Eric you were wrong about Trump in 2016.
Nero fiddling while GA burns. Terrible ads all around, conspiracy theories, and absolutely no plan/strategy. Trump just added fuel to the fire.
My own children were impacted by the fraud rhetoric even though I emphatically shared the reality with them. They did not vote in the run off thought they showed for the general.
Also, I was looking at Cobb’s data where I live. To be honest, I have heard a fair amount of republican friends state that they were flat out annoyed and no longer wanted to vote after being harassed nonstop by email, texts, calls, and doorknocks. I was aggravated myself by the incessant intrusions. Some days we received 3-4 visits to our door - from both sides of the aisle. I have never felt so harassed. I do wonder if this also impacted voter turnout negatively.
I just can’t watch!!
It looks like they may be, as in Trump's reality-TV world, "Losers." Read 'em and weep. Deciding not to play, they took their votes and went home.
I typically spend 10 to 15 minutes in line to vote - time it in the middle of the day. Today, it took 35 minutes to vote. When I left my polling place, the line was 1 1/2 times the size that it was when I originally got in line. I do not know of one person that indicated that they were not voting in this election. If anything people seem to be more determined. Not challenging Erik - this is just counter-intuitive to what I have been experiencing.
Perdue catching up at this moment. 12k down.
You warned them this might happen. I’ve read comments all over social media from people saying it’s not worth voting...because the powers that be have already decided the winners and losers.