Post by ajohnstoneJust a day away now. So what are the predictions?
I will follow the bookies rather than the polls and the political pundits
and say it will be a convincing win for Biden on both the popular vote and
the electoral college. I also believe the Republicans will lose their
majority in the Senate.
What do others foretell?
As was the case in 2016, there is a huge disconnect between the polling
data and the anecdotal evidence. Your prediction is in line with the
polling data. The anecdotal evidence tells a different story. Trump's
rallies draw thousands while Biden's draw hundreds. There was a Biden
drive in rally in which more Trump supporters showed up than Biden
supporters. Some astute Democrat operatives are sounding alarms. In 2016,
Michael Moore was the canary in the coal mine (a big fat canary). On
matters of public policy I can't think of a single time I have agreed with
Moore on anything but he was spot on with his warning about Hillary being
in danger of losing Michigan which is Moore's home state. He is sounding
similary warnings this time around. He said whatever lead the polls show
Biden having, you can cut it in half and that brings his polling lead to
within the margin of error. Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingell is also
telling people she is troubled by the fact autoworkers are telling he they
are going to vote Republican as they did in 2016. They used to be a vital
piece of the Democrat coalition but they have been trending Republican in
the last two presidential elections. Then we have James Carvelle, another
Democrat with him I don't share any views but he probably understands
politics as well as anybody in this country. He is looking at the early
voting data from Dade County (Miami) and it troubles him. Biden has to win
big in Dade in order to carry Florida. Blacks and Hispanics are not
turning out in the numbers they did in 2016 which was also down from what
Obama was drawing. In addition, Trump is polling ahead of of what he did
in 2016 with both those groups. He only got 8% of the black vote in 2016
but it's possible he could double that in 2020. Black and Hispanic votes
are down from where they were in 2016 and the Democrats will probably get
a smaller share than four years ago. With numbers like that, it is hard to
imagine the Democrat carrying Florida. If Biden is doing poorly with the
black and Hispanic vote Florida, is there any reason to think that would
be the case in other swing states which the Democrats have to win back to
win the White House. Lastly Biden made a huge gaffe during the last
debate when he said he wanted to move the country away from fossil fuels.
Coal, oil, and natural gas are vital to the Pennsylvania economy and that
is not a message that will appeal to voters in that state. Philadelphia in
the east and Pittsburg in the west a Democrat strongholds but in between
the state has been compared to Alabama. As is the case in Florida,
Democrats must win those two big cities by huge margins to offset the
Republican vote in the center of the state. If black and Hispanic voters
don't turn out big, it's hard to imagine the Democrats winning the
state.
I'm not into predicting. After the votes are counted we might get an idea
of why there is a disconnect between the polling numbers and the anecdotal
evidence. If it turns out it is the presidential polling numbers which are
flawed, it likely means the pollsters are oversampling Democrat voters
which would indicate projections in the Senate could also be wrong.
Republicans hold 53 seats and are almost sure to flip the Alabama seat
back into their column. There is an outside chance they could also flip
Michigan. Even if they don't, the Democrats have to flip four Republican
seats if they win the White House and five if they don't. Collins in Maine
and McSally in Arizona appear to be the most vulnerable. Republican seats
in North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, and two seats in Georgia seem to be up
for grabs. The interesting thing about Georgia is that both seats will
likely be determined by run off elections. Those will be held after the
winner of the White House is known. If Biden has won the election and
control of the Senate is in the balance, swing voters in Georgia might be
reluctant to hand the Democrats all three levers of power and instead
elect Republicans to both of those seats. The alternative would be to risk
empowering the Democrats to implement their radical leftist agenda.