2024 will mark 20 years since Republicans last won the popular vote. Can they rebrand in time to stop losing streak?

The Hill ^ | 01-26-2023 | MYRA ADAMS

[ChicagoConservative27]

2024 will mark a sorry anniversary for the Republican Party: 20 years since President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign won both the popular and Electoral College votes. That feat has since eluded three GOP presidential nominees and one incumbent.

The critical question is, “Are Republicans capable of nominating a winning ticket to halt this embarrassing losing trend?” I doubt it since rapidly changing demographics are reducing the Republicans’ popular vote count in battleground states.

In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president by winning only the Electoral College — a political fluke that he did not repeat in 2020. Moreover, the demeaning label “illegitimate president” can haunt a commander in chief who wins without the popular vote. Just ask George W. Bush, circa 2000.

To understand how this forthcoming non-celebratory 20th anniversary of continuous political loss manifested itself, let’s begin with notable 2004 state voting data and compare it to 2020 state results.

But first, the basic facts: Incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in a demure, respectable campaign by today’s standards. Bush won the popular vote 50.7 to 48.3 percent and the Electoral College vote 286 to 251.

[Sequoyah101]

Rebrand? Without election reform that is just pissing in the wind.

There are no efforts for election reform and so there will not be another republican win.

[FreeReign]

We’re going to need better candidates than what we’ve had in the last 20 years. The sad part is that the Dems win it despite having very very bad candidates. Hillary for example. And Biden.

Democrat bad candidates beat good Republican candidates. In your "brilliance", you can't imagine why that is?

[FreeReign]

Trump was a terrible candidate in 2020. He deserved reelection on his record but helped make himself such a pariah it meant he lost state he won in 2016. He’s done nothing to resuscitate his image and will do even worse in 2024 if the GOP nominates him.

Big Corporate Newz Junkey, is another one who doesn't understand what the problem is.

[Maine Mariner]

I think you are on the right track, but I was thinking how the GOPe abandoned Barry Goldwater in 1964 and the personal attacks on Sarah Palin within 24 hours after she received the VEEP nomination in 2008 by the likes of Romney and even some of McCain’s supporters. I am thinking about how the McCannatics abandoned Kari Lake in 2022.

I just don’t see Democrat party leaders, donors, etc. doing that to their candidates-it is one reason they win elections and we don’t.

[IrishBrigade]

‘Not as long as the RATS are allowed to use their mail order politician system.’

is something stopping republicans from using mail in voting...?

[IrishBrigade]

‘Big Corporate Newz Junkey, is another one who doesn’t understand what the problem is.’

yeah but is he wrong about Trump’s likelihood of victory in 2024...?

outside of Richard Nixon, how do retreads normally fare in American presidential runs...?

[FreeReign]

outside of Richard Nixon, how do retreads normally fare in American presidential runs...?

You're another one who thinks that Biden won in 2020 without cheating?

[Williams]

I hate to break this news but there are more democrats when they get them to vote.

But certainly if we can win the popular vote by millions in 2022, we can win it any year.

Until they turn everywhere into California.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I think they’re too cheap. They need to get with the program and start flooding the system with “ballots” the same way the Snowflake people do.

[trustverify0128]

And it’s unlikely that any of those states will go for Trump or a Trump-like candidate.

[Dat]

I really think people don’t understand that the big cities are called that because they have a lot of people in them and that they are overwhelmingly further left than low density areas. This isn’t just an American thing, it is world wide.

Also remember that the Dems are promising free money and no responsibilities. Couple that with an increasingly dumbed down and doped up population.

Also, remember that the Dems have beaten everyone believing they are in immanent danger from global warming, white supremacists etc.

Telling people to be responsible for their own economic well-being and that they need to not be hedonists isn’t going to sell well.

We have almost lost the generation that had to work to live and lived through the great depression and fought a major, widespread war.

It is time to face the fact that things are not going to get better until they get a lot worse.

[FreeReign]

I really think people don't understand that the big cities are called that because they have a lot of people in them and that they are overwhelmingly further left than low density areas.

Instead of dealing with my point about Biden cheating to win the election, you avoid it completely and respond by saying that large numbers of people live in the cities.

Never mind all the evidence about cheating.

Never mind the fact that only 27% of the US population lives in cities which is a number that has been decreasing and not increasing.

Also, remember that the Dems have beaten everyone believing they are in immanent danger from global warming, white supremacists etc.

Survey data doesn't support your claim about everybody believing in global warming and that there are white supremacists threatening our country. Both concerns are way down on the list.