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The Dinkins Effect in the Presidential Race
Commentary ^ | 07.31.2012 | John Steele Gordon

Posted on 08/01/2012 2:23:25 AM PDT by neverdem

Andrew Malcolm at Investors Business Daily has an interesting column on whether those who are telling pollsters they intend to vote for the president really are going to do so. The vast majority of them surely will, of course. But politics, like baseball, is a game of inches. If only two percent of those saying they will vote for Obama go into the voting booth and vote for Romney instead, that’s a four-percent shift, turning a comfortable 52-48 win into a 48-52 loss. If they simply stay home, that turns 52-48 into 50-50.

There are numerous signs the Obama campaign is very, very worried. His fundraising has not been the money machine it was in 2008, despite Obama’s burning out the engines of Air Force One going, hat in hand, from one group of fat cats to another. He is running through the money he does raise at a furious pace, mostly running negative ads in toss-up states. He is trying to shore up his base rather than reaching out to the center as he would if his base were secure. That doesn’t bear much resemblance to Ronald Reagan’s “It’s Morning in America” campaign of 1984, does it? There are even those who say Wall Street’s recent climb, despite very gloomy economic news, is due to a growing conviction on the Street that Obama is toast.

And yet pollsters all have the race tight as a tick, as Karl Rove terms it. What’s going on?

I think what I call the Dinkins effect is in operation. David Dinkins was the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York in 1989, having defeated three-term incumbent Ed Koch in the primary. His Republican opponent was Rudy Giuliani. The polls all showed Dinkins well ahead, but he won the race only narrowly...

(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: obama
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To: neverdem

I do not think there will be one demographic in 2012 where Obama exceeds his 2008 vote.

Given that, he has very little chance at victory.

The Dinkins/Bradley/Wilder Effect is merely reflective of MSM bias in polling.


21 posted on 08/01/2012 4:53:02 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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To: Doogle
Dinkins, the washroom attendant, was absolutely the worst mayor NY has ever seen.

so it's a perfect analogy then.

22 posted on 08/01/2012 5:05:22 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Woe to them...)
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To: neverdem

Spot on. I don’t “Dinkins Effect” is an original term either, thought the “effect” is a valid observation.


23 posted on 08/01/2012 5:07:05 AM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Johnny Rico picked the wrong girl!)
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To: Beagle8U
Well, except for the absolute fact that 4 years of Obama has totally cured ‘white guilt’!

silver lining of the century.

24 posted on 08/01/2012 5:08:15 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Woe to them...)
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To: FreedomPoster

Who said it was?

I essentially pointed out that a 5% drop in black support would be close to a rounding error in the overall vote.


25 posted on 08/01/2012 5:09:10 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: neverdem

This “effect” does not occur anymore. I was told it would occur in 2008 and it didn’t.

I have little faith in the people of this country to see past class warfare. The citizenry is sick and far too dependent on the government.


26 posted on 08/01/2012 5:22:26 AM PDT by Jake8898
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To: neverdem

Dinkins was so bad, that not only has NYC failed to elect another black man as mayor, we haven’t elected anyone with a (D) next to their name for 20 years!


27 posted on 08/01/2012 5:24:46 AM PDT by Tanniker Smith (Rome didn't fall in a day, either.)
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To: neverdem
If only two percent of those saying they will vote for Obama go into the voting booth and vote for Romney instead, that’s a four-percent shift, turning a comfortable 52-48 win into a 48-52 loss. If they simply stay home, that turns 52-48 into 50-50.

Likewise...

If only two percent of those saying they will vote for Romney go into the voting booth and vote for Obama instead, that’s a four-percent shift, turning a comfortable 52-48 win into a 48-52 loss. If they simply stay home, that turns 52-48 into 50-50.

One MUST remember that there are VAST amounts of Obama voters, who will NOT vote for him again, that are NOT being 'reported' by the MSM.

28 posted on 08/01/2012 6:20:33 AM PDT by Elsie
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To: Happy Rain
...without the “with” the sentence has an ominous meaning;)

Whatchu talkin' bout, Massa? :)

29 posted on 08/01/2012 7:45:37 AM PDT by Max in Utah (A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: neverdem

It’s also the “I don’t want to say anything bad about the Black guy (Colored guy for the super seniors” syndrome.


30 posted on 08/01/2012 9:26:25 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: PapaBear3625

“New Yorkers realized that having a black democrat mayor for another term would likely irrevocably send NYC into the same decline that Detroit experienced.”

I remember the riots well; they killed the fellow from Australia in a wild pack attack. The city is still declining, but they’re really pricing the multi-generational dependents out now. The gentrification, accompanied by the Hispanic invasion, would indicate that Dinkins may be the last black mayor of NYC.


31 posted on 08/01/2012 6:59:04 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: sf4dubya

Dinkins paved the way for Giuliani. No pundit predicted a white Republican as mayor.


32 posted on 08/02/2012 1:52:50 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Erik Latranyi

That only matters state by state. He could lose the gross national vote, but win the EC.


33 posted on 08/02/2012 1:59:03 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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