Numerology

Posted on November 5, 2004 by Gene

Sad, but true: every way I crunch the numbers, Bush won the election, but boy, it was mighty close — certainly not a mandate.
Let’s look at the electoral vote. If we abolished the electoral system and went with a straight popular vote, he won.
If we eliminate the winner-take-all system, and based the electoral vote on the percentage of the complete national popular vote, Bush would have 274 to Kerry’s 264.
If we allocate electoral votes on a state-by-state percentage basis (yes, I really did the math), Bush winds up with 282 to Kerry’s 256.
What all this number crunching impressed upon me, in the end, was how close the election was and how ridiculous the Bush administration is to claim a mandate. For instance, take Ohio. On a percentage basis, both candidates would receive an equal 10 electoral votes. Florida would give Bush 14, and Kerry 13. All through the lists, the percentage difference between the candidates was almost always 1 vote… all those 1 vote differences just added up in the end.
And when the White House crows about his fantastic 51% showing in the polls, remember this: in 2000, Al Gore won the vote by an astonishing 56% while Bush garnered a dismal 40%.