There are similar comparisons in other states. Well, the popular vote means a lot but not everything. We have been hearing more about the college lately. The polls showing Bush with an average 3-point lead suggest we will not get into that narrow zone where Gore could lose the popular vote and win the electoral college. A Bush victory with a 3 percent margin will give him the Electoral College majority.
Every presidential candidate says that the election they are in is important.
I think this could be important on many issues, most notably Social Security. If Social Security is not reformed in the next 4 to 8 years, we will face a situation in a long generation when we have only two workers to every retiree and we will have to either slash benefits, raise taxes, or pay money out of general revenues. This will mean much higher levels of government, where job growth and economic growth are sluggish or nonexistent, like in Western Europe. Bush has called for such reform and Gore is adamantly opposed. So on this issue there is a predictable difference with long-range consequences.