Those were all landslides. No single state was determinative of those elections.
Squeaker: <1%
Close: 1-3% <---- This election.
Solid: 3-5%
Blowout: 5-7%
Landslide: 7%+
Yes, exactly that. The trends that are playing out nationally are playing out in Florida. If national trends lean Democratic, then Florida - a swing state - leans Democratic.
Then what is OMG trying to say?
I think he’s trying to say what I just said. The trends playing out across the country played out in Florida. You can look at Florida and see a microcosm of how the nation as a whole voted. Not that either set is forcing the vote of the other set. Simply that they reflect the same patterns from the same sources.
The results in Florida may reflect a rough reflection of national trends, but that doesn’t mean that those results spring from precisely the same issues and concerns. For instance, in Minnesota, Cubans do not represent any important demographic, and their traditional loathing for anything that reminds them, however remotely, of Castro is not a factor.