Final Election Blog Post

So here it goes: the winner is...[drum roll]... Barack Obama.


SURPRISE!! 353 to 185 electoral votes. popular vote..probably lots for barack..he has all the highly populated states with lots of democratic voters and lots of electoral votes. thanks california.


Senate race: The democratic candidate mark warner wins over Republican Jim gilmore. Warner has been leading by 30+ points in the polls for weeks. it is nearly impossible for him to lose...


House of Reps: 10th district winner is Wolf. I would vote for him 1. because judy feder? really? we can do better... also he must be doing something right.. he's been in office for longer than i've been alive.
11th: to be honest, i only know one person who's running: Gerry Connolly, and he looks like a nice guy. plus, he seems to be winning 58% of votes according to recent polls so yeah. he wins!

the end. NO MORE CAMPAIGN COMERCIALS!

Election post 4

Polling Week:

I
McCain is at 42%
Obama is at 52%
"With 1% of registered voters saying they will vote for another specific candidate, only 6% remain undecided, one of the smallest levels to date." -Gallup Polls

Analysis: with only a 3% margin of error on polls, it is obvious that McCain is falling behind. he has maintained between a 40-43% support rating for the past few weeks, but in the past 3 weeks, support of rObama has risen 4% from 48% on october 5th. it may have something to do with the recent endorsement of Coloin Powell, a major figure in the republican party.

II
Debate watchers were more likely to say McCain did a better job than Obama in the third debate than in the second debate (30% vs 23%), but McCain's best showing was the first debate, when 34% said he did the better job. Barack Obama was seen as winning all three, however, with 46%, 56% and 56% of people saying they preffered Obama to McCain in the debate.

Analysis: The debates are one of the most important factors in influencing voters for one candidate or the other, and according to other polls, the combination of Obama's strong performances and the overwhelming approval rate of his performances has positively influenced voters to vote for Obama. It's is most likely his poublic speaking skills which had the most effect on viewers as far as deciding who won, and McCain just doesn't have the same skills as a public speaker as Obama.

Senate Race:
I
Warner(D)- 57% to
Gilmore (R)- 31 %
11% undecided

Analysis: the democrats are winning everything. possibly because of the new found power of the democratic party, headed by barack obama. Senate races in several states are showing a strong lead for the demiocratic candidates, and it may just be time for the dem's to completly take over the senate. the races are still too close to tell in a few states, but overall in VA and elsewhere, the democratic candidates maintain a strong lead over the Republicans

ROLL OF POLLS:
+give almost accurate, up to date information.
+majority of people say theytrust poll results as accurate measures of public opinion.
+show what issues are most important to voters

-candidates are sometimes too concerned with poll results to focus on issues
-poll results published too early or too late will influence voters on certain issues

election post 3

for those of us who don't know, the VA senatorial race is going on at the same time as the presidential election. candidates are Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore.

Mark Warner (D): former Governor of VA who delivered the keynote speech at the Dem national convention. he was expected to pursue the presidency in 2006, but decided to take over for John Warner as senator for VA instead.

Jim Gilmore (R): Former attorney general for VA for 4 years and Governor for the 4 after that, he was in the race for the presidency until 2007 when he becanme the first major candidate to drop out to run for senate.

The most important issue facing the 2 candidates is state taxes and the economy... the senators are also worried about kick starting the housing market after the recent drop in the market and the recent financial crisis.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds former Democratic Governor Mark Warner’s with 60% of the vote and former republican Governor Jim Gilmore with 34%

post 1

well... to start off with i am not a big fan of politics... in general they make me angry, and so do politicians. i dont like listening to them or watching them or hearing about them, or really anything to do with politics in general. but when forced to make a decision i would have to sayi am on the republican side of most issues and generally support McCain. Like most people, my ideology and political views have come from my family and especially my parents. granted, they're hard-core conservatives and i'm not nearly that bad, but i do share a lot of their views on everything except social issues. as far as the next president goes, my main hesitation in supporting McCain are his stands on social issues: he's pro-life, anti-same sex marriage, and sarah palin's a bit of a nut about not having sex-ed. Barack Obama is young and charismatic and obviously a better public speaker than McCain, but i just don't see enough experience there to put him in charge of the country. plus, he wants to make a lot of economic changes which might not be a good idea given the precarious state of the economy right now. maybe it;s just better to let things work themselves out... i'm open to being persuaded by either candidate and i'm thinking about sitting through the presidential debate before making a final decision