Bob Dole said a few years ago that the RNC should be "closed for repairs" and I couldn't agree more. A once great party, the GOP today is nothing more than a group of angry, anti science, anti government, religious fanatics, and conspiracy theorists. Anybody who doesn't toe the far right platform and is willing to compromise on anything is called a RINO. As a certain someone would say, SAD!
The GOP looked overly Conservative and unprepared to govern before Trump came along. Now they look all over the road, ready to crash government and completely incapable of being honest with the voters. Trump did that to them. Also, they've alienated a significant portion of their voter base (GOP Establishment/Conservative Values Voters) who regard Trump as a coin-flip between necessary evil and trash to be discarded at all costs.
It helps when you can gerrymander districts and elect fringe candidates who don't want to compromise on any issue. Not to mention Citizens United which has allowed unlimited money to go to candidates, a lot of which is untraceable. This isn't the party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, or even Reagan.
The GOP did this to themselves. The amount of money that flows into image and messaging on the right side of the spectrum is huge and the RNC has no control over who spends on their side of the field. This makes 13 candidate Presidential fields, with all the nuttiness that creates, the norm. It makes primary challenges from "chickens for checkups" and "rape is a misunderstanding" candidates inevitable. All of this pushes the GOP brand off of the rails over and over again and that makes candidates like Donald Trump also inevitable. The reason I say the GOP did this to themselves is that the 2010 redistricting, while ensuring many safe Republican seat, also allowed the GOP to run many candidates who did not have to take mainstream electable positions. If you have a 55-45 edge in the district your party chose for you, the voters your party chose to give you, then you can run a campaign aimed at the right side of that district and not lose very often unless you are a total nut. Redistricting in 2020 may actually help the GOP out if it forces them back to the center on many issues. The far right money will still be there but not the illusion that you can run a far right campaign and win in what is now once again a swing district.
You say all this as if the DNC has it's shit together. Last I checked they had to fix their own primary to prevent a nutty old socialist from winning. Both parties gerrymander btw. I don't know why people always act like it's only republicans do this.
In 2016 Republicans had a 49-48% advantage in votes but a 55-45% advantage in seats. Clearly the setup favors them.
Not really a good argument since you're using nationwide vote counts and the most heavily populated metro areas tend to be democratic districts.
You asked why people act like it's only Republicans who gerrymander. I gave you the reason why. It's because the current setup is gerrymandered, which you yourself admitted, and it favors Republicans. Then you asked why it favors Republicans, and I answered that too. Whether Republican gerrymandering causes the system to favor Republicans is a different question and one that I'm not going to take the time to research and answer. Though previous research says the answer is yes. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/upshot/its-time-to-end-the-old-debate-over-gerrymandering.html If you want to take the time to try to refute it, have fun.
You claim gerrymandering favors republicans but cannot make a logical argument as to how or why you think that is. Both parties do it to ensure they continue to win their districts and all it does is lead to more and more extreme candidates because candidates aren't going to get more votes getting closer to the other side. It's bad for the country and I think they should pass legislation to prevent it. If you can't give a logical reason why it somehow favors republicans then stop making claims you can't back up. Both parties use it to their own advantage.
I didn't claim gerrymandering favors Republicans. I claimed gerrymandering exists, and the current setup favors Republicans. I also explained why others might claim gerrymandering favors Republicans because you asked why they say that. So you should stop accusing me of making claims I didn't make.
Well, if you're a Fox news watcher, you wouldn't pay attention to CNN and if you're a CNN/MSNBC watcher, you'd ignore Fox. I'm the latter.
I was referring to the joker pre-election polls. I remember many of them gave Trump basically no shot.
Yep.. That's why exit polls are meaningless. People lie in public. A lot of people got behind the curtain and voted for Trump on the down low.
I'm all for passing legislation that ends gerrymandering and big money out of politics. This would make elected officials less likely to be extreme and influenced by big donors. Both sides gerrymander, but Republicans benefit far more from it now.
