If the eleciton were held today, who would you vote for?

3) The very clear and decisive victories of the marriage protection measures on 11 states (including Oregon - a heavily pro-democrat state) demonstrated that a vast majority of Americans agree with the Republican party on key issues.

Jennifer

re: Oregon being a heavily pro-democrat state. Not really. I think it was Kerry (52%) and Bush (47%). One of the US Senators is a Republican and I *think* the state legislature is 50/50 and maybe even Repbulican in the state house or senate. At one point, early on, it was considered a swing state -- for what that is worth -- but there have been a good number of visits from Cheney.

[Rapunzel]

re: Oregon being a heavily pro-democrat state. Not really. I think it was Kerry (52%) and Bush (47%). One of the US Senators is a Republican and I *think* the state legislature is 50/50 and maybe even Repbulican in the state house or senate. At one point, early on, it was considered a swing state -- for what that is worth -- but there have been a good number of visits from Cheney.

I was under the impression that Democrats "tended" to win Oregon in presidential elections. I have tried to look up the history of Oregon in presidential elections in the recent past and I can't really locate anything at all. Is there a website you know of that can give me this information?

I also found some interesting numbers regarding "close" presidential races of the recent past on this website: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/closerace1.html

1960
Richard Nixon 49.6%
John F. Kennedy 49.7%
Other 0.7%

(That's REALLY close - in this day and age there most certainly would've been serious questions over that victory).

1968
Hubert Humphrey 42.7%
Richard Nixon 43.4%
Other 13.9%

1976
Gerald Ford 48.0%
Jimmy Carter 50.1%
Other 1.9%

In light of those numbers the idea that our country "is more deeply divided than it has ever been" is just silly. If anything, when you look at the percentage Bush won in the popular vote, Americans are slightly less divided than they have been in the past few decades!

Jennifer

[PrincessFiona]

I wonder how the vote would have been different if the hot button topic of 'gay marriage' had not been placed on the ballot in 11 important states? I'm sure that that issue caused many more conservatives to come out.

[PrincessFiona]

Also...the numbers do show that Bush won by a greater majority than has happened in the recent past, but I believe that the 49% who voted against him did so with an unprecedented anymosity...that can't be measured by zogby.

Jennifer, I think you are correct re: OR and presidential elections. (I say I think because I just don't know for sure).
There was a nice map in the paper last week that showed the voting history of each state back through Regan. I'm pretty sure that OR votes always went to the Dem. I think that OR is starting to trend more Republican (as noted in the one Dem and one Rep US Senators and state legislature make-up of a Democrat controlled Senate and Republican controlled House). And Republicans thought they could gain enough ground that Bush and Kerry visited more than candidates in the past presidential elections. At least that is my impression.

So, we aren't just stuffed to the gills with Democrats in this state. Just in Portland. The Oregonian would probably have more info -- http://www.oregonlive.com -- but I don't have time to look. Sorry!

[Auspicious]

There was a nice map in the paper last week that showed the voting history of each state back through Regan.

The New York Times online has an awesome interactive tool for this:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html...SULTS_GRAPHIC/

[Rapunzel]

Thank you, Nellie and Julie!

Jennifer