One of the best things Republicans have going for them in 2016 is voter enthusiasm. So far in the primary process, voter turnout greatly favors the GOP over Democrats.
Phillip Bump reports at the Washington Post:
1 million more people have voted in Republican primaries than Democratic onesWe’ve been tracking the discrepancy between turnout in the Democratic and Republican primaries and caucuses since Iowa — the night it became very clear that people coming out to vote for Republicans were turning out much more heavily.On Super Tuesday, that trend continued, for the most part. In the Nevada caucuses, more Democrats came out this year, as they did in the Massachusetts and Vermont primaries. Otherwise, Republican turnout was larger — often much larger. In fact, in the 10 states shown below, 1.1 million more Republicans have voted than Democrats.
(Chart via the Washington Post)
That’s a bit misleading, though. Notice how many more Democrats in Massachusetts voted than Republicans. That’s because there are a lot more Democrats in Massachusetts. That the early primaries have largely happened in mostly red states is certainly part of the reason that more Republicans have come out.But it’s also the case that turnout is down for the Democrats since their last contested nomination (2008) and it’s up for the Republicans (2012). Across the board.
(Chart via the Washington Post)
Here’s a video report from Carolina Week:
Bernie Sanders likes to talk about getting new voters involved in politics but he’s not the one who’s delivering.
CNN reports:
Voter turnout shows Trump, not Sanders, leading a revolutionBernie Sanders talks extensively about revolution, but it appears that it’s actually Donald Trump who is driving record numbers of voters to the polls with his fiery populist message.Republicans voted in unprecedented numbers on Super Tuesday, setting record numbers in contests throughout different regions of the country.Every state holding a Republican contest Tuesday — with the exception of Vermont — reached a new high for participation. But none of the state’s holding Democratic contests broke any records.Texas, home to a battle royale between Trump and native son Ted Cruz, saw a whopping 2.7 million voters show up for the Republican contest — 1.2 million more than the previous record in 2012.In Virginia, 1,013,000 voters — almost 350,000 more voters showed up than the previous record-setting year, 2008. And in Georgia, 1,273,000 voted Tuesday — more than 300,000 above the record set in 2008.
The Democrats’ problem is complacency.
Essentially, they’re too happy with the way things are.
Featured image via YouTube.
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