Posted on 11/11/2016 4:43:44 AM PST by IBD editorial writer
Stories have been popping in the wake of the 2016 election claiming that Donald Trump not only got fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton, but he got fewer votes than Mitt Romney did in 2012 when he lost to Barack Obama. The combination seems to undermine Trump's claim to anything like a mandate.
"Donald Trump will become president although he received about 1.74 million fewer votes than 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney," wrote Kyle Feldscher in the Washington Examiner.
Never-Trumper Ben Shapiro, writing in National Review, claimed that "Trump underperformed Romney ... in a vastly expanded electorate. That's not the mark of a huge wave."
Some reporters are making the same claim about Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post's Philip Bump wrote that "Hillary Clinton's campaign was crippled by voters who stayed home," and that she "received far fewer votes than Barack Obama in an election that was supposed to see a big increase in turnout."
The problem is, all these stories are wrong.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
he also got less than McCain.
Clinton had no enthusiasm
This is the bigger story I think. Bernie had generated tons of enthusiasm in the spring. I think a Bernie versus Trump election would have been a lot closer. Without the emails, Clinton Foundation, and Bill-stuff....it would have been an election on topics only and a totally different race.
The returns I’ve seen make it more like 830,000 fewer than Romney.
Trump navigated a win and fought for a win. He won, Romney lost. Everyone knows Romney did not fight for his people. So what, he did not get as many votes. And Kelly Ayotte got more votes in 2016 than she did in 2010. Who cares. A win is a win is a win
If you read the article, you find out that the question in the headline is answered with a “No.” The final vote tally has not been completed yet. Trump will get more votes than either Romney or McCain.
Popular vote
Romney.. 60,933,504
Trump at last published count was something under the
60 million number but so was Hillary.
The official count hasn’t been published to my understanding.
“And Kelly Ayotte got more votes in 2016 than she did in 2010. Who cares. A win is a win is a win”
I think it would be a good move forTrump to offer her a spot in his administration as he needs some women and minorities.
Also, we don't yet know how many Trump ballots got dumped in the river in certain districts - hopefully, the New FBI can find out before 2020.
Thanks for moving this thread to the important point. Trump, and more importantly the people, won. My suggestion is that we should refrain from participating in the orgy of “mental masturbation” that is rising in an attempt to undermine the people’s mandate.
What is the status of the military absentee vote?
There are at least a million qualified Republican women with more intelligence, ability, courage, and character than worthless Kelly Ayotte. Let her go back to Nashua and stew about how she ruined her career.
“Never-Trumper Ben Shapiro, writing in National Review, claimed that “Trump underperformed Romney ... in a vastly expanded electorate. That’s not the mark of a huge wave.””
Ben Shapiro gets it wrong again.
This is not the first time Shapiro has been wrong.
Shapiro is either incredibly ignorant or completely dishonest.
The only thing that matters is TRUMP WON! People better get used to WINNING!
As posted nearby, it also sounds like the sea of red has hundreds of thousands of absentee (and early?) ballots that may not need to be counted as it can’t change the out come.
” As of this writing,....only 93% of the votes have been counted.”
“Trump underperformed Romney”..........
Does Shapiro actually believe that? If so, perhaps he can explain why Trump is soon to be the 45th POTUS and Romney never made it to DC. Trump simply beat out Clinton and there is no way around it, Romney couldn’t have beaten a rug.
I read, maybe on FR, that popular vote counts are inaccurate as when some states care called for one candidate or the other, they don’t count the absentee or provisional votes. And that in case of a recount, they all are counted.
Did Romney compete against three other candidates for POTUS? This kind of second-guessing does not include the effect of multiple candidates on the ballot.
That “Trump does not have a mandate” argument is getting more and more asinine. Technically, the Constitution says not a word about a mandate. But, according to their logic, what is Trump supposed to do, move Hillary into the White House with him?
However, Ben Shapiro and the writers of the once great National Review are complete idiots. That is why they were Never Trumpers.
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