I'll be the first to admit, as a researcher myself, I'm a fan of statistical methods for explaining and predicting the phenomenon we see in the real world.
But with the lousy polling in 2012, mostly showing a Mitt Romney edge at the end, coupled with the abysmal projections of a Hillary Clinton blowout in the Electoral College in 2016 -- polling is now as useful as voodoo to predict politics.
Why is this?
The way Maine conducts its elections is about to change. Question 5, the Maine Ranked Choice Voting initiative, was approved by 52 percent of state voters, becoming the first state to end plurality voting for statewide races.
Ever since the end of the presidential primary season and really before the final primary contests, various media pundits have commented that Donald Trump is a danger to our democracy. If elected, Trump would establish an authoritarian regime like nothing the U.S. has ever seen.
That was the claim echoed by Bill Maher on his show Friday. If Trump is elected, Maher asserted, he will declare himself president for life and there is nothing anyone will be able to do about it.
Everyone has heard the grade school story of why we have elections on the first Tuesday in November. It was after harvest time, market days were on Wednesday, and people didn't want to have to travel on Sundays to get to the polls -- that naturally left only Tuesdays or Fridays as the option, with Fridays occasionally being holidays for many religious adherents.
Early voting numbers in Florida and other major battleground states are in, and the figures show a disproportionately high turnout among independent voters. Ignored by the pundits, analysts, and their election models, these voters could end up delivering an Election Day surprise Tuesday.
San Diego, CALIF. - More than one million mail-in ballots have been sent to voters of San Diego County. If confirmed by Registrar Michael Vu, that would represent a new record.
We are witnessing the most dysfunctional campaign for the presidency in our lifetime. Does anyone really believe that despite the promises by all candidates that they will solve our problems that the real solutions to our nation’s problems will actually result? Unlikely.
As so often happens after presidential elections the media overplays the importance of the outcome in determining the direction our country will go. More often than not our national elections merely validate a leadership process that is systemically flawed.
Raise your hand if you think that the president of the United States should be elected by the popular vote. Ah, it looks like most of you do. Hands down and know that you’re not alone.
Governor Bill Weld’s dire verdict on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been taken as an implicit endorsement of Hillary Clinton and made into another sound bite in the horse-race coverage of the election. Regrettably the content of his warning has been largely ignored. Weld describes Mr.
As the general election nears, FairVote will discuss problems with our election system and electoral solutions offered by ranked choice voting.