# Election Day \[Week\]\[Month\[s\]\] \[Year\] 2020 follow-along thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618 "2020-11-03T05:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 123
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2444 "2020-11-05T19:21:22Z")
Wannabe Dictator - 101: Get the police and military on your side and keep them there. There is a reason conservative zealot union busters never, ever, ever touch the police unions. Seriously…look at it. Conservatives go full-tilt union busting on any and all unions but one. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2445 "2020-11-05T19:21:27Z")
As more votes are counted, I’m starting to see this election more like a massive blue wave plus a medium-sized red wave at the same time. Turnout was just astronomical – went way up for Democrats, and moderately up for Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2446 "2020-11-05T19:25:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Biden voters felt Trump is an existential threat to the status of the USA as a democratic republic, and Trump voters feel Biden is a secret socialist who will make capitalism and Christianity illegal. I’m not bothsidesing it; Biden voters have good reason to think they’re right and Trump voters don’t. But that everyone feels that way isn’t good. A lot of it comes down to us as a country (and a world) not knowing how to adjust to the hyperconnection of social media - it’s especially pronounced in the U.S. due to our strong enshrinement of “free speech” which is translating into fact-free social media rumor spreading, and then turns into a dangerous brew for whipping up bad feelings. When people say this rancor is a return to “the 19th Century” in terms of divisive politics, it occurs to me that part of that is the technology of the 20th Century (mass newspapers, radio, television) made dissemination controlled by “professional” sources. Social media is a return to the rumor mills that outpace the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2447 "2020-11-05T19:25:17Z")
Unfortunately (for blue) way up participation equals medium up participation by red when it is all counted. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2448 "2020-11-05T19:27:09Z")
Well, trump doesnt have the military, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2449 "2020-11-05T19:27:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I get you’re all trying to make some amusing point, but it’s also meaningless without an actual measure. Our own experience is not enough to know what “average intelligence” really means. Yes we do have objective bases for our experiences. Take a look at the comments section of any major mainstream news site. Roughly about half the comments are barely literate and spectacularly uninformed. (On Fox News, it will be much more than half.) These are mostly the Trump voters. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2450 "2020-11-05T19:29:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Biden voters felt Trump is an existential threat to the status of the USA as a democratic republic, and Trump voters feel Biden is a secret socialist who will make capitalism and Christianity illegal. I’m not bothsidesing it; Biden voters have good reason to think they’re right and Trump voters don’t. But that everyone feels that way isn’t good. But you cannot equate these things as equal. It legitimizes Trumpers thinking Biden will ban Christianity. That is insane. Even IF Biden (a religious guy himself) wanted to do that how would it even happen? No, those fuckers don’t get to say their fear is the same as your fear because one is utterly irrational. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2451 "2020-11-05T19:29:16Z")
I lived in Louisiana then too. I was not quite old enough to vote, but it was amusing to see all the excuses people were advancing to vote one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2452 "2020-11-05T19:29:18Z")
Update on remaining ballots in Arizona, from the [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/11/05/trump-biden-election-live-updates/#link-EA4SUPOUWFBQDGJTDVSFQVIOTE): > [@](#): > > About 275,000 early ballots remained uncounted as of Thursday morning in Arizona’s largest county, part of the fewer than 450,000 ballots still being processing statewide as new tallies cut into Biden’s lead over Trump. > > About 17,000 provisional ballots are still being examined, too, and roughly 6,000 early ballots need some kind of extra review, perhaps because of an issue with the signature, said Maricopa County Elections Department spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson. > > Gilbertson said she was not sure how many ballots election officials will be able to process Thursday. Tallies will be updated at 7 p.m. local time. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2453 "2020-11-05T19:29:53Z")
> [@squidfood](#): > > I don’t have an answer to that conundrum, except to focus on empowering economic messages in general. I think this was one big flaw in how Biden campaigned regarding the pandemic. We all assumed this was an absolute albatross on Trump, and it probably did turn many voters against him, but Dems could have done better. Biden focused too much on how many people died due to Trump’s negligence. It’s true, but it doesn’t resonate with a huge chunk of the population. Everyone personally knows someone who got COVID and got over it, but relatively few personally know someone who died. It’s just numbers on a screen. Meanwhile, they are sick of he pandemic, sick of the economic hit, and just want it to be over. Trump promised that (narrator: “it was not actual promise.”) Biden promised mask mandates and keeping people safe, which people interpret as locked away. I think Biden could have done better by emphasizing the economic recovery part: we need masks so we can open stores and business. We need contract tracing so you can get back to your lives. Biden criticized Trump for opening things too early. And he’s right, but it’s not the way to present it. Trump’s handling of the pandemic needed to be tied more directly to the economy. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2454 "2020-11-05T19:33:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > No, those fuckers don’t get to say their fear is the same as your fear because one is utterly irrational. Fear is fear. It gets ahold of your gut and makes you irrational. Even if the democratic fear of authoritarianism is more “fact-based” than the fears of socialism coming from the other side, running on fear is a dangerous brew. I think a charismatic leader running on “hope and change” would defuse things and bring more buy-in from the other side than Biden did running on (albeit totally, totally legit) fears of disease and authoritarianism. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2455 "2020-11-05T19:33:59Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Yes we do have objective bases for our experiences. Take a look at the comments section of any major mainstream news site. Roughly about half the comments are barely literate and spectacularly uninformed. (On Fox News, it will be much more than half.) These are mostly the Trump voters. Exactly. The liberals, even if their comments / beliefs turn out to be incorrect, appear to post their own thoughts. The MAGAs all parrot the same thing. 47 years and what did Biden accomplish, Hunter Biden’s laptop, whatever the conspiracy of the day is. Today it’s that “vote dumps” are occurring in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Detroit, Atlanta, and Phoenix. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2456 "2020-11-05T19:34:29Z")
> [@squidfood](#): > > Fear is fear. It gets ahold of your gut and makes you irrational. So if I think you are the antichrist and I am scared of you then it’s ok if I act to protect myself from you? I mean, fear is fear right? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2457 "2020-11-05T19:36:51Z")
Maybe of interest only to me, but… I grew up in Green Bay, and have been distressed to see how Trumpy it’s gotten in recent years, and Trump and his surrogates have regularly gone there for rallies. This afternoon, I see this information in an article from the Green Bay newspaper – Biden actually got 54% of the vote in Green Bay! > [@](#): > > Biden carried Green Bay with about 4,000 more votes than Trump — 25,036 to 21,123 — and was able to flip five voting wards that Trump won in 2016. However, for Brown County, Trump garnered 52.7% of the vote — 75,865 to 65,509. > **[Green Bay pads Biden's lead in Wisconsin as Brown County overall goes for Trump](https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2020/11/04/election-2020-all-eyes-green-bay-presidential-race-too-close-call/6158242002/)** > > Results took 10 hours after polls closed to become public, but the city warned had of counting delays because of a record early turnout. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2458 "2020-11-05T19:37:08Z")
Many of our fellow Americans want 45 in charge even though he is a known quantity bringing harm and evil. Everything we were running against is just what they want to see. How would you please those people? It’s not political anymore. It’s deep. Thanatos, racism, sexuality, gender, narcissism. It’s a death cult. Demography will help but we need to get to the children of these people. They want life to be like TV, but liberals are the ones who get to have fun on tv. They have beaches and coasts and diplomas. We grow their food. Farmers don’t get to have fun on tv. Politics is not on the agenda, except as a fig leaf for journalists. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2459 "2020-11-05T19:38:20Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So if I think you are the antichrist and I am scared of you then it’s ok if I act to protect myself from you? > > I mean, fear is fear right? I mean, I see nothing in squidfood’s post even beginning to suggest that irrational actions based on fear are justifiable… only that fear makes you irrational. I would think the remarkable motivating effect fear can have a person is indisputable. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2460 "2020-11-05T19:38:49Z")
Did Levy intentionally turn the Reagan perecentages backwards, or was that just a mistake because it was the first line he tweeted? Reagan had 58.8% of the popular vote. He won every state except Mondale’s home state of Minnesota. (Mondale won DC.) I’m extremely doubtful of a claim that 2020 Biden had a more successful campaign than 1984 Reagan. It’s great that Biden and Trump both got the vote out. But that’s because 1) voter turnout has been trending upwards since 1996, 2) this was an exceedingly partisan race which encouraged voters on both sides to enact their votes, and 3) it seems like many voters expected, or at least were worried, that it would be a competitive election. In 1984, lots of people didn’t bother to vote because it was obvious Reagan would win. Discounting his victory margin because of low voter turnout seems like a bad use of the data. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2461 "2020-11-05T19:39:05Z")
Nice to see. I have family there and have probably been to Green Bay at least once every year for my whole life (50+ years) except this year because of COVID. I love Green Bay. Glad to see it is still cool. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2462 "2020-11-05T19:39:55Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t know if it’;s true, but it sounds like it might be. A person who believes the country is pretty good, and that the political candidate are all reasonably capable civil sevants, will be less motivated to vote. Turnout wasn’t higher in 2020 because voters just felt civic duty; it was specifically higher because they hate and mistrust one another. Biden voters felt Trump is an existential threat to the status of the USA as a democratic republic, and Trump voters feel Biden is a secret socialist who will make capitalism and Christianity illegal. I’m not bothsidesing it; Biden voters have good reason to think they’re right and Trump voters don’t. But that everyone feels that way isn’t good. Feels like a just-so story. It would be just as easy to attribute high turnout to people having faith in the process and like they are a legitimate voice in the discussion, and low turnout to a lack of faith in institutions and a sense of hopeless despair. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2463 "2020-11-05T19:40:51Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So if I think you are the antichrist and I am scared of you then it’s ok if I act to protect myself from you? > > I mean, fear is fear right? No, but if you think I’m the antichrist, and I respond by saying “therefore I’m going to pick up a gun myself for when you try to kill me” it only confirms your fears, rather than defusing them. The point is that, when someone ends up in that state of fear, whether it came from logical risk assessment or right-wing propaganda, the fear (as a physiological response) is as “real” as the facts, and must be acknowledged. This says nothing about attacking the source of the fear (i.e. right-wing propaganda) but attack it at the source (the quite-logical people who are manipulating it for gain), don’t attack the scared people who bought into it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=122) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=124)