NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: …Over all, the national turnout was 36.3 percent; only the 1942 federal election had a lower participation rate at 33.9 percent. The reasons are apathy, anger and frustration at the relentlessly negative tone of the campaigns.
Republicans ran a single-theme campaign of pure opposition to President Obama, and Democrats were too afraid of the backlash to put forward plans to revive the economy or to point out significant achievements of the last six years. Neither party gave voters an affirmative reason to show up at the polls…
Showing up at the polls is the best way to counter the oversized influence of wealthy special interests, who dominate politics as never before. But to encourage participation, politicians need to stop suppressing the vote, make the process of voting as easy as possible, and run campaigns that stand for something… (more)
EDITOR: The Democrat Party leaders outsmarted themselves. Had President Barack Obama made a nationally televised plea to his followers, many of the close elections would have gone to the Democrats.
Obama is not unpopular. The supposed 55% to 60% who criticize him consist a third that are to his left. We hear this all the time. Put him up against any Republican, and most of the left wing liberals would vote for him.
