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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (520048)	11/7/2012 10:45:27 AM
From: Brumar89	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793559

Turnout shaping up to be lower than 2008 WASHINGTON (AP) - A drop in voter turnout in Tuesday's election didn't keep President Barack Obama from winning a second term. Preliminary figures suggest fewer people voted this year than four years ago, when voters shattered turnout records as they elected Obama to his first term. In most states, the numbers are shaping up to be even lower than in 2004, said Curtis Gans, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. Every state is showing lower numbers than in 2008, Gans said. Still, the full picture may not be known for weeks because much of the counting takes place after Election Day. "This is one of those rare elections in which turnout in every state in the nation went down," Gans said. In Texas, turnout for the presidential race dropped almost 11 percent from 2008. [ In TX: I saw two Romney/Ryan yard signs, none for Obama. No bumper stickers for either side. I heard 2 tv ads for Romney and probably a hundred for Obama. At a SI posters request I signed up on a Romney site ... gave my phone number, email ... and got no response (well except a few email solicitations for funds). There was no Romney campaign here. ] Vermont and South Carolina saw declines that were almost as large. The drop-off was more than 7 percent in Maryland, where voters approved a ballot measure allowing gay marriage. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, The Associated Press' figures showed more than 118 million people had voted in the White House race, but that number will go up as more votes are counted. In 2008, 131 million people cast ballots for president, according to the Federal Election Commission. Experts calculate turnout in different ways based on who they consider eligible voters. A separate, preliminary estimate from George Mason University's Michael McDonald put the 2012 turnout rate at 60 percent of eligible voters. That figure was expected to be revised as more precincts reported and absentee votes were counted. ............ "Beyond the people with passion, we have a disengaged electorate," Gans said. "This was a very tight race, there were serious things to be decided." ........ Both Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made voter turnout a top priority in the waning days of an intensely close race. But for months leading up to Election Day, both candidates were obsessed with that tiny sliver of undecided voters. It may be that those who were still undecided Tuesday decided just not to show up, said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "Everyone was talking about how the Democrats are unenthusiastic and the Republicans are fired up," Kondik said. "It sounds like that was all talk." ......... Read more: http://www.kypost.com/dpps/news/national/turnout-shaping-up-to-be-lower-than-2008_7991483#ixzz2BYGGQqYo