# Is there any reason to believe 2016 won't be a landslide victory for the Democrats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 27, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737 "2014-09-27T19:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737/381 "2014-11-13T05:37:11Z")
That’s an awfully cluttered statistic. [Electoral events that have never happened before happen all the time.](http://xkcd.com/1122/) ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737/382 "2014-11-13T05:40:29Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Noemie Emery today: > > It’s been said before, but anyone who thinks it’s likely should be aware that it would be a first-time accomplishment. Of course… Can you tell me the first time a black man became president of the US? Was that not also a “first time accomplishment”? And if Hilary gets the nod - wouldn’t that also be a first time accomplishment? Thing is - the history doesn’t really mean that much in a one on one, face to face contest… ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737/383 "2014-11-13T06:39:23Z")
Chronos and bengangmo, you are certainly both right. Every Presidential election involves firsts. But let’s be clear: firsts are never sure things. The premise of this thread is that the Democrats are going to win by a landslide. Secondly, there’s a big difference between a first time accomplishment as in “We’re trying something never tried before” and “We’ve tried this a few times and it’s failed every time, maybe this time it’ll work.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737/384 "2014-11-13T19:16:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Secondly, there’s a big difference between a first time accomplishment as in “We’re trying something never tried before” and “We’ve tried this a few times and it’s failed every time, maybe this time it’ll work.” Does this mean that Republicans have learned that cutting taxes doesn’t create jobs? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737/385 "2014-11-13T22:57:51Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The middle class has never been overtaxed. When middle class taxes go up, it’s at the hands of Republican governors … Or as many Republican states have done, the middle class tax burden is increased by raising the regressive sales tax. Okay, so you’ve said plainly that only Republican governors ever increase taxes on the middle class, and that raising the sales tax increases the middle class tax burden. So why don’t you tell us what happened to sales taxes under liberal Democratic governors in California, Illinois, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, Arkansas, … ? I think that Democratic governors raised sales taxes in all of those states, and others. But since you’ve claimed that only Republican governors make middle class taxes go up, you must have some evidence that none of these Democratic governors ever raised sales taxes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-believe-2016-wont-be-a-landslide-victory-for-the-democrats/699737.md?page=19)