From: EIVERSO@cms.cc.wayne.edu
Subject: Re: Electoral Mandate?
Organization: Wayne State University, C&IT
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 04:56:42 GMT

In article <1992Nov6.042719.16867@netcom.com>
alc@netcom.com (Chris Stassen) writes:
 
>
>Eric Iverson writes:
>> How many votes did Bush get? I think with the higher voter turnout,
>> Clinton probably got far more votes than Bush did in '88. Maybe more
>> Than Reagan in '80 or '84!
 
To follow up on the charge that Clinton got fewer "votes" than Dukakis;
not so: according to the Detroit Free Press Nov 5, 1992 ,
Clinton 43,728,375 votes to Duk's 41,016,429 votes back in '88.
(source for Dukakis votes; 1989 Information Please Almanac)
 
An "Electoral mandate" might not be a valid concept, but a greater than
2-1 margin seems like a decent measure of one.
 
>I thought the first (more votes than Bush in '88) might be plausible,
>but the other two are predictions divorced from reality.  And when I
 
Not so about the '80 election. Regan got 43,899,248 votes. Only a difference
of 170,873 votes in comparison to Clinton. Pretty close, and I wonder if the
official count (later this month) will close the gap at all.
(again, source for Regan's votes: 1989 Info Pls Almnc.)
 
>checked the figures tonight, the first one turned out to be pretty far
>wrong as well.
>
>The last Republican to garner fewer popular votes than Clinton was
>Gerald Ford (1976), and even he missed by just a little over 600,000
>(39,788,218 to 39,147,770).  Before that, we have to go back to Nixon's
>first campaign (1968, 31,785,480) to find a lower Republican vote tally
>than this one.  "Mandate," indeed.
 
BZZT!!! The last Republican to garner fewer votes than Clinton was
George Bush (1992) you even missed his number (38,167,416).
 
Your figures do not jive with the 1989 Information Please Almanac, and
I'm sure my figures for this year could be off, but they are likely more
accurate than your's so I'll provide them here.
 
And I haven't seen or heard any Clinton supporters saying that he has
a popular mandate, but there certainly alot of his detractors claiming
that he thinks he has one or that democrats think he has one.
I'm afraid it's hard to argue without an opposition, but some persons
on this net are doing a good job of it.
 
>
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>Year    Candidate       Popular Votes   %       E.V.    Turnout
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1992    Clinton         39,788,218      43              55%
>        Bush            35,151,640      38
>        Perot           17,332,813      19
...
1992     Clinton         43,728,375      43      370     54?
         Bush            38,167,416      38      168
         Perot           19,237,247      19
 
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1988    Bush            47,917,342      54      426     50%
>        Dukakis         41,013,030      46      112
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1984    Reagan          54,450,603      58.8    525     53%
>        Mondale         37,573,671      40.6     13
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1980    Reagan          43,904,153      50.8    489     54%
>        Carter          35,483,883      41.0     49
>        Anderson         5,719,222       6.6      0
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1976    Carter          40,825,839      50.0    297     53 1/2%
>        Ford            39,147,770      47.9    240
>        McCarthy           680,930       0.8      0
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1972    Nixon           47,169,911      60.7    520     55 1/2%
>        McGovern        29,170,383      37.5     17
>        Schmitz          1,098,482       1.4      0
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>1968    Nixon           31,785,480      43.4    301     <not listed>
>        Humphrey        31,275,165      42.7    191
>        Wallace          9,906,473      13.5     46
>====    ===========     =============   ====    ===     ========
>
>Sources:
>1992 vote totals  -- 11/04/92 San Jose Mercury News, page 24EL
>Voter turnouts    -- 11/05/92 San Jose Mercury News, page 1A
>All other figures -- Whitney, _The American Presidents_, page 457
>--
>Chris Stassen                                           stassen@alc.com
>DISCLAIMER:  My employer's account, but not their opinions.
 
 
--Eric
 
eiverso@cms.cc.wayne.edu  "If character isn't an issue, why did Bush lose?"  :)
Detroit, Michigan  USA         "Annoy George Bush: Elect Clinton/Gore"
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