Barack Obama, Joe Donnelly and John Gregg were all running unopposed in the Democratic Party. In a number of Democratic primaries this year, an enthusiasm gap for Barack Obama has been evident as a significant percentage of voters have either skipped Obama on the Democratic ballot or cast a vote for token opposition to him. In West Virginia's Democratic primary yesterday, more than 40% of the Democratic primary voters chose a jailed, convicted felon over Obama. In yesterday's Indiana primary, there appeared to be less enthusiasm among Democratic primary voters statewide for their senate and gubernatorial candidates than Obama. Joe Donnelly received about 14,000 fewer votes than Obama. John Gregg fared only slightly better, receiving a little under 14,000 fewer votes than Obama. Even in losing the Republican Senate primary badly to Richard Mourdock, Sen. Richard Lugar still received more than 50,000 votes more than either Donnelly or Gregg.
| Democratic | Barack Obama | 218837 |
| Republican | Newt Gingrich | 40361 |
| Ron Paul | 96697 |
| Mitt Romney | 402914 |
| Rick Santorum | 83799 |
| Democratic | Joe Donnelly | 204878 |
| Republican | Richard G. Lugar | 257700 |
| Richard E. Mourdock | 391708 |
|  |
| | |
| Democratic | John R. Gregg | 205097 |
| Republican | Mike Pence | 536913 |
| |
|  | |
7 comments:
What enthusiasm gap? 49,189 people voted in the Dem primary in Marion County. 47,058 voted for Obama even though he was unopposed. That is 95.6% who bothered to bubble in by his name even though he was unopposed. That shows no lack of enthusiasm to me.
Read before you write next time.
Let's see...in the Democratic primary, the only contested elections were in Congressional races. No advertising by Democrats in the largest media market in the state.
Could that be why there were fewer votes in the Democratic primary this year? Gee, sounds reasonable to me.
Although I don't really see this bass-ackwards state Ithat I still love for some unexplainable reason) being contested this cycle, nothing you pointed to above is evidence of an enthusiasm gap.
Please try again.
Since there seems to be a problem here with reading comprehension, let me explain. The enthusiasm gap specificially refers to Gregg and Donnelly, not the Democratic Party or Obama. My point was that other states indicated less than enthusiasm for Obama among Democratic primary voters. In Indiana, there were fewer votes cast for Gregg and Donnelly, both of whom were running unopposed, than were cast for the unopposed Obama. What part of that are you unable to grasp?
Now who has the reading problem. DMC explained it quite well. Since Gregg, Obama and Donnelly were unopposed, there was no statewide campaign or visibility. In Marion County I personally visited many long term Dems voting the R primary for Lugar. In precincts where I saw figures, it was in the 30 to 50 votes range. Don't be misled by the figures and reread carefully what DMC wrote. DMC said it clearly.
You seem to forget all of us Dems who crossed over to vote in the Republican primary, Gary.
Gary - I rarely post here (I haven't posted in years) but I am absolutely dumbfounded that people have missed your point. I'm going to try to help explain what it is you are saying, but even then, I'm not sure they will understand.
1. Gary is not talking about Democrat enthusiasm overall.
2. He isn't talking about enthusiasm for Obama.
3. His commenst have nothing to do with how many Democrats voted in the Republican primary (and many illegally if they don't intend to support a majority of Republican candidates in the fall.)
With that out of the way:
Gary is only looking AT THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED IN THE DEMOCRAT PRIMARY. His analysis is based ONLY ON THOSE WHO VOTED IN THE DEMOCRAT PRIMARY.
1. Neither Obama, nor Gregg, nor Donnelley were contested.
2. Gary is pointing to the difference between the higher number of votes that Obama recieved, compared to the lower number of votes that Gregg and Donnelley received.
3. How do you explain that X number of people voted for Obama (uncontested) but LESS THAN X (and somewhat significantly) voted for Gregg (uncontested) and Donnelley (uncontested.) That question isn't answered by your canard of "well, many Democrats voted in the Republican primary" or "many Democrats didn't vote because it was uncontested." It is only reflected of the PEOPLE WHO VOTED IN THE DEMOCRAT PRIMARY.
Now, how can we make this any easier for you to understand? Good Lord, reading comprehension would go a LONG way.
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