1.
Which Senate race result was most surprising to
you? Why?
2.
Which Senate race was the biggest landslide
victory? Why do you think that was the
case? What was the closest race? Why?
3.
What was the strategy that worked for winning
Republicans? Winning Democrats?
4.
Who won the Florida governor’s race? What are the political pundits saying about
how the race played out? What factor
played the biggest role in the results? Turnout (or lack therof)? Ideology? Negative Ads?
5.
Check out a number of news websites and pick
three to compare (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NPR, NYTimes, etc.) Is the analysis of the
results clearly different on any of the news sites? How so?
6.
Pick a controversial amendment on the ballot in
a state of your choice. Why do you think
it passed (or didn’t pass)? Is this an
indicator of a national trend or is the reason specific to the state? Explain.
7.
What was the most important gubernatorial race
in your opinion? Why? Do the governor races matter more or less
than the Senate election? Why?
8.
What do you think is in store for the next two
years? Will this momentum be carried
over into 2016 for Republicans?
Democrats? What are the political
pundits saying about the prospects for 2016?
67 comments:
1.Colorado's senate race was the most surprising to me, because a Republican took over a Democrats seat in a state that has very liberal policies like recreational use of marijuana. 2. Wyoming had the biggest landslide with Mike Enzi(R) winning with 72.29%. I think this is the case because Wyoming is a state that doesn't have much diversity and is conservative on gun rights. Virgina is the closest race with 49.1% supporting Warner (D) and 48.5% supporting Gillespie (R). I think this is the case because both parties had a good voter turn out at the polls. 3. Winning Republicans really distanced themselves from Obama and criticized liberal policy. Winning Democrats had good publicity, strong ads, and good use of social media. 4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. Political pundits say it was a tight and well fought race. They say negative ads and Scott highlighting Florida's economic turn around helped him win. 5.FOX, MSNBC, and NPR display and analyze results differently. Fox really highlights the Republican take over of the senate and shows exit polls that display public opinions about Obama. Polls on the carrying out liberal policy show low approval ratings. MSNBC words stories to make the the right side look humorous, and says thing "even though the Republican won the seat, the Democrat won the debate." NPR just states facts. 6. Use of medical marijuana was controversial in Florida and I think it didn't pass because people didn't agree with how the amendment was written, and Republicans showed up at the polls. I think this goes against the national trend however. 7. I think the Florida gubernatorial election was the most important because the Florida governor is going to represent me, and his policies are going to effect my daily life. The Florida governor's race means a lot to citizens in Florida, but senate races will represent Florida and other states on a larger federal scale and help pass national policy, so senate races are more important than gubernatorial races. 8. Political pundits say that in 2016 some usually liberal states like Iowa and Colorado, and swing states like North Carolina could vote conservatively, and the next president could be a Republican. The Republican momentum all depends on who is the candidate for the 2016 election. Democrats could win in 2016 if their voter turn out becomes strong again like it has been in previous years elections.
1. The Senate race that was most surprising to me was the race in North Carolina between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis because was Hagan the incumbent and was quite popular.
2. The Senate race that was the biggest landslide victory between Enzi and Harding of Wyoming. Harding won with 72.3% and Enzy had 17.6%. I think a lot more people voted Republican because they were unhappy with the current stance of the Democratic Party.
3. The strategy of the republicans was to diss their opponents and their Democratic affiliation since Obama’s approval rating is so low. The winning democrats' strategy was likely voter turnout and distancing themselves from Obama.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. The election results were very close between Scott and Charlie Christ, so voter turnout would have had a big impact.
5. Fox news shows more graphs and representations of data from the elections than an actual analysis. NPR and CNN both have articles that analyze the results. Both articles pretty much say the same thing about how Republicans swept the seats and now control Congress. It also talks about how Obama is going to comment on this on Wednesday, and how it will negatively affect him.
6. A controversial amendment on the ballot in Florida was the legalization of medical marijuana for people age 21 and older. Even though it got more than 50% votes to legalize it, the amendment needs 60% yes votes to be passed. So it did not get passed because a lot of elderly people in Florida vote, and they have more closed views about legalization of drugs than younger people do. I think it is a reason specific to the state, because many other states have legalized it.
7. The most important gubernatorial race in my opinion was the Florida race because it was a very close race that was followed nationwide because of the closeness of the approval of the candidates. Senate races are more important because the senators have more influence over nationwide policy making since governor's only govern and make decisions for the state.
8. I predict that even less will get done in Congress because it is controlled by Republicans and the President is Democrat. I think the momentum will be carried into 2016 for Republicans, because they are getting a lot of votes due to the bad image the Democratic party has because of Obama.
1. The Kentucky race surprised me the most because I thought that McConnell would have been voted out. He just seems like a dull senator and doesn’t have any personable skills that would make him want to stand out.
2. Wyoming had the biggest landslide with Mike Enzi(R) winning with 72.29%. I think the case is because there isn’t much diversity in Wyoming, they want their gun rights and they were unhappy with the Democratic Party. Virginia is the closest race with 49.1% supporting Warner (D) and 48.5% supporting Gillespie (R). This race was so close because the voters liked both of the candidates and felt that they both could make a good change.
3. Winning republicans campaigned to have certain parts of the Obamacare law to be repealed. Winning democrats still had their liberal views but distance themselves from Obama’s views.
4. Rick Scott won the governor’s race. Reports say that the race was very close and either one could have won. I think that the attack ads had a lot to do with the fact and that Crist can’t stay true to one political party and would try to do whatever he could just to gain office.
5. CNN has a video and does analysis on the gains and losses of the senate. NY Times has charts and graphs and everything showing the difference and the edges that the opponents have with one another. NPR just has an article that is straight to the point of the information about the election. I like that they show the information differently because there are many different ways to view the same thing.
6. The medical marijuana was a major one that was trying to become passed. It did not pass because I don’t think people understand what it can do for the state. I can see it both ways; yes it can help the medically ill and help lessen their pains but also, marijuana would be easy assessable, doctors lives would be at risk if they are forced to prescribe it and it could just go wrong in many ways. I think that it is specific to the state because in some states it has been passed while here in FL it has not been passed yet.
7. I think the Florida governor race was the most important because it will dictate how part of my college experience goes; if certain loans will be available or if tuition prices raise or drop, etc. I think that governor races are more important because they can directly affect the state more. With the senate, you also need to the HOR to have anything gone along with the president’s signature.
8. I think that it will carry out into 2016 because it is still pretty new but it also depends on whether we have a republican president or democratic president. With the presidential campaign, usually the senate will run with a certain person and we will have to see that their political views entail.
1. The North Carolina Senate race was the most surprising to me, because I expected Hagan’s strategy to be more effective and because most of the polls that I saw favored Hagan over Tillis.
2. The biggest landslide victory was 72% of the vote for Republican Mike Enzi in Wyoming. This occurred because Wyoming is a heavily Republican state and Enzi’s Democratic challenger Charlie Hardy was fairly weak. The closest race was in Louisiana, where a runoff will be held between Mary Landrieu (D, 42%) and Bill Cassidy (R, 41%). The race was close because the Republican vote was split between Cassidy and two other conservative challengers.
3. Winning Republicans focused on associating their Democratic opponents with Obama, while winning Democrats already had a Democratic-leaning state and they had to focus on maintaining voter turnout.
4. Rick Scott won the governor’s race in Florida. Pundits have not yet called the race, even though Crist has conceded, and are mentioning the possibility of a runoff. Low voter turnout played a large role in the Republican victory, as only ⅓ of the franchise in South Florida (a heavily Democratic region) cast their vote.
5. The coverage on NYTimes and CNN is fairly similar, in that they acknowledge a Republican victory. Not surprisingly, Fox News is celebratory and mentions Obama (as usual, without fail) in their main headline.
6. Amendment 2 in Florida did not pass (57% of 60% needed) likely because medical marijuana is a popular topic among young voters, many of whom did not vote. However, it does signal a shift favorable to legalization in the future.
7. In my opinion, the Florida governor’s race was the most important (but I may be biased). I think Florida’s race was important because of Florida’s status as a somewhat-swing state with a large population; both parties can see which strategies did and did not work in this race in order to build a blueprint for securing Florida in 2016. I think gubernatorial races and Senate races are equally important, because the governor is the executive authority in an entire state but senators provide representation on a national level.
8. Over the next two years, I expect extensive gridlock as the Republicans will continue to try and repeal the ACA unsuccessfully instead of dealing with other issues. I don’t think any momentum from 2014 will be carried over for either party, instead I think the events of the next two years will have more of an effect on the 2016 race. Political pundits agree that the results of 2016 will be heavily influenced by the next two years and by which candidates win each party’s nomination.
1. New Jersey was the most surprising, because Chris Christie is the governor and I thought he would make a republican wave
2. The closest was probably the NC race with Hagan and Tillis, it was so important. The biggest landslide was the Wyoming race, it is a extremely red state
3. The republican strategy of tagging them to Obama was probably the most successful, and the democrats weren't really successful in blaming republicans for the major problems and stalemate in congress
4. Rick Scott. They are saying that it was a very close race but Rick Scott got the edge because of him being more successful than Christ as governor. Most likely turnout played the biggest part, as everyone was sick of negative ads and ideology was so twisted throughout the race
5. In CNN, FOX, And MSNBC, they are all similar in showing the facts of the election, but msnbc doesn't really elaborate on the wins of the red governors and cnn seems to just show all of the facts, while FOX elaborates on these wins in the senate and the governor races.
6. Amendment 2 in Florida did not pass. I think this was because of the faults in the amendment. There were many loopholes in the bill, and florida is an older state. Also it needed 60% to pass. It was really just state specific because the national feeling Is more supporting the opposite.
7. The Florida race because it was so close. It was the biggest toss up and Florida also is on the east coast so it can affect the other states. I feel the senate races are more important because they are federal and work in the whole of America while the governors race can just affect the state.
8. Literally nothing will be done, or Obama and the democrats will continue to crumble, because if he continuously vetoes everything he will blamed For stalemate, ad if he doesn't republican bills will be passed. This is definitely good news for 2016, as long as the republicans can pick a strong candidate and not self destruct.
(1B)
1. Virginia had to be the most surprising just because of how close the race was. Gillespie was down in the polls just 10 days before election day.
2. Alabama had the biggest landslide because Jeff Sessions ran uncontested.
3. Republicans attacked and defamed the Democratic policies as well as associating Democrats with Obama. Democrats distanced themselves from Obama and won the states that are primarily blue.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. Political pundits talk about how close the race was and how Scott won because of how low the voter turnout was for Democrats in Florida.
5. FOX news is obviously happy about how the Republicans retained the House and took over the Senate. FOX uses visual representations to show how the Republicans won so they can show how the red has taken over the news. CNN uses an article to discuss the results and admits that this is a win for the Republicans. NPR uses an article as well and talks about this election result will only make Obama's image worse.
6. Amendment 2 in Florida did not get 60% of the votes so therefore was not passed. This is specific to the state since Florida was the one voting on the topic but is also a national controversial topic since other states have or are trying to pass the use of medical marijuana.
7. Florida was the most important gubernatorial race since it is the state that I live in. Senate races matter more because they have more of a direct effect in Washington and have more power to get things passed/done.
8. If Republicans can show good leadership in Congress and keep Obama unpopular then I think they will win the 2016 presidential election.
1. The North Carolina Senate race was most surprising to me. I thought the incumbent Kay Hagan was headed for victory, but a late surge by Thom Tillis pushed the Republicans over the edge in an extremely close race.
2. The biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming, where Republican Mike Enzi won with 72% of the vote. The strong Republican sentiment in Wyoming undoubtedly propelled Enzi to victory, Charlie Hardy was a weak opponent. The combination of the incumbency advantage and the strong republican support already existing in Wyoming led to a lopsided victory.
3. Winning Republicans successfully connected opponent Democrats to Obama’s unpopular standing, even amidst Democratic attempts to dissolve these ties. Winning Democrats, by contrast, were either able to successfully distance themselves from Obama’s policies, or were able to co-opt enough Republican ideals.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. His victory is not a surprise, per se, but he did win in a super-competitive race.The situation in Florida was anybody’s guess before the election, and as such the result was uncertain; however, the result wasn’t a shock. Rather, the candidates had about equal chances of winning.
5. FOX News is focused on the idea that the Republican wave is a mandate for against Obama, and is loudly trumpeting the red-state “domination”. CNN, however, is taking a more moderated approach to analyzing the results of the election, and is putting forth viable causes for the Democratic losses. The NY Times, much like CNN, is analyzing the possible moves for the Democrats after what they describe as “an electoral drubbing” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/us/politics/midterm-democratic-losses-grow.html?ref=politics&_r=0).
6. The medical marijuana ballot measure in Florida failed to garner the necessary 60% of votes. This bill probably didn’t pass because of low voter turnout of those groups that would likely support it---college students, young people, poorer voters, etc. The failure of this measure probably doesn’t indicate some national trend, as medical marijuana measures were accepted in other states. Rather, it seems to be a misrepresentation issue in Florida due to the limited voter turnout.
7. I think that the Florida gubernatorial race was the most important because it featured a tight battle in a swing state. The candidates themselves weren’t compelling, and the result was probably more of who voters disliked less, but nonetheless the result was important. Relatively speaking, these gubernatorial races were far less important than the Senate races because Republicans actually flipped the Senate majority.
8. I think that the Republican takeover will result in stalemate for the next year or so, but eventually the President will make some concessions. Also, Congress may be willing to make concessions in exchange for key objectives like dismantling Obamacare. The media’s outlook for the next two years also reflects an expectation of stagnant politics as Obama completes what can be considered a “lame duck” last two years.
1. The Senate Race that was most surprising to me was the Colorado senate race, with Cory Gardner's win, because a Republican took over a Democrat's seat in the senate.
2. Wyoming, between Mike Enzi (72.29%) and Charlie Hardy (17.56%), had the biggest landslide victory because Wyoming is already a very Republican state and they favor gun rights, so are more conservative. Virginia, between Mark Warner (49.16)and Ed Gillespie (48.39), was the closest race because of the great voter turnout and that both candidates were strong and good with their policies, that a lot of voters agreed with.
3. The strategy that worked well for Republicans is making their policies and ideas as far away from Obama's-so they weren't associated with him. The Democrat's use of their social media and other resources benefited them, along with how they distanced themselves from Obama.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. The race between Scott and Crist was very close, and I believe that the voter turnout played a very large role in the results.
5. NPR and CNN both have articles analyzing the results of the race, while Fox news has more graphs and visuals showing the results. All of the news websites show how the Republicans swept the polls and are now in control of congress.
6. The legalization of medical marijuana was a very popular topic of young people, and because a lot of the voters in Florida are older, they would be more inclined to vote against its legalization. To be legal, they needed 60% of the votes, and didn't receive enough, resulting in the inability of the amendment being passed.
7. I believe that Florida was the more important race because it was so close and people followed the close race nationwide. I believe that the governor races are more important because they can directly impact the state.
8. I think that is the Republicans do well while in office in the next two years, it may have a big impact on the 2016 race. If more people see that the Republicans are effective, and the Democrats aren't, it may influence their vote, and the outcome of the 2016 elections.
1. The North Carolina race between Hagan and Tillis was most surprising to me because I thought that Hagan had the advantage as the incumbent and would win.
2. The biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming with the Republican Mike Enzi winning with 72% of the vote. This was the case because of the combination of his incumbency and the strong republican sentiment in Wyoming.
3. The strategy that worked for winning Republicans was defaming their Democrat opponents by associating them with the currently unpopular President Obama. On the other hand winning Democrats were successful by distancing themselves from Obama and his policies.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. Pundits are saying that the race was very close and that either candidate had a chance of winning. Low voter turnout played a large part in Scott’s victory, as reports say there was a low turnout of Democrats.
5. Fox analyzes the data with many graphs and highlighting Republican victories. CNN has an article detailing how the Republicans now control the Senate. MSNBC also has an article on the Republican victories, but asserts that the Democrats still “won the debate.”
6. I think the legalization of medical marijuana was a controversial amendment. I think that it did not pass in Florida because there is a large population of elderly people in Florida, who may not understand the benefits of medical marijuana.
7. The Florida gubernatorial race was the most important in my opinion because it was very close and the Florida governor will affect my life more directly. Senate races are more important because senators help pass national policies that affect Florida and other states on a larger scale than governors would.
8. I think that the Republican momentum may be carried into 2016 because the unpopularity of the Democratic Obama may turn some swing states to vote Republican. However, the events over the next two years will be very influential to how many people vote.
1)The Senate race that was most surprising to me was the race in North Carolina between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis because not only was Hagan the incumbent, but people were skeptical of Tillis. It was interesting how a state that was known for being Democratic was able to switch to being Republican. I honestly expected the power of the incumbent to power through the polls, but apparently the Democratic ideals of Hagan were no longer appreciated, giving Tillis the upper hand.
2)The Senate race that was the biggest landslide victory between Enzi and Harding of Wyoming. Harding won with 72.3% and Enzi had only 17.6%. Some of the races were almost a landslide, but to have such a large percentage of votes is something to consider. I think that was the case because the public is generally unhappy with the Democrats so the Republicans honestly had the upper hand in most of the races. The closest race was the race between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis in which Hagan got 47.29% of the vote and Tillis received 48.97% of the vote. I think this particular senate race was so close because a majority of North Carolina is Democrat and didn't want a conservative Republican in office, but People were probably wary about whether or not to vote a Democrat into office again after everything the government has gone through with Obama.
3)The strategy of the Democrats was to separate themselves from Obama. Since Obama’s approval rating is low, many Democrats decided it would be best if they separated themselves and mentioned how they voted against what he was trying to get approved. This separation and disapproval of Obama along with definite stances on civil rights and foreign policy gave some Democrats the upper hand. The Republicans, however, tended to go with an approach that made them seem not as conservative. In states where it could have been a toss up, the Republicans did not highlight their stances on gay rights or abortion which helped them in more Democratic states.
4) Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. The election results were very close between Scott and Charlie Crist, so voter turnout would be crucial to either side.
5) Fox news shows more graphs and representations of data from the elections than an actual analysis. NPR and CNN are both articles that analyze the results. The articles pretty much say that Republicans swallowed up the seats and now control Congress. It also talks about how Obama is going to comment on this on Wednesday, and how it will negatively affect him.
6)A controversial amendment on the ballot in Florida was the legalization of medical marijuana for people age 21 and older. Even though it got 57% of votes to legalize it, the amendment must have 60% yes votes to be passed. It most likely did not get passed because a lot of elderly people in Florida vote, and they have more closed views about legalization of drugs than younger people do. It really depends from state to state, because many other states have legalized it without much argument.
7) The most important gubernatorial race was the Florida race because it was a very close race that was followed nationwide because of the high stakes and very bitter race. Senate races are more important because the senators have more influence over nationwide policy making, and what they do has more of an influence on America as a nation rather than a governor who just heads state legislature.
8)I predict that not much will get done in Congress because it is controlled by Republicans and the President is Democrat. I think the momentum will be carried into 2016 for Republicans, because they are getting substantial votes now a days thanks to the negative party image of Obama for the Democrats.
muizz naeem period 1b
1. Virgina is very surprising since ten days ago candidate Gillespie was behind by about twenty percent and during the counting he was very close to his competing candidate. and it comes to show these races are very unpredictable its any mans game.
2. it has to be Alabama there was only one person running he won by 100-0 votes
3. for the republicans and democrats it has to be the use of negative ads against each other and trying to defame each other and their policies. for the democrats what seemed to work was them distancing themselves from Obama.
4. well rick Scott won, its important since i live in Florida and it determines how Florida future will be.
5. many of the websites reported in an unbiased way to an extant other websites like msnbc they were very slow and disorganized in their reporting.
6. vote yes on 2 is very controversial in the sense medical marijuana is a big issue on a national scale and many people seem it is beneficial to the state. though it failed by 2.5% votes it contained many loopholes to the point were anyone could become a supplier regardless of any background.
7. Florida is the most important since rick Scott won it will be interesting as to how Florida will turnout to be in this new republican dominated age which hasn't occurred since 1928 just a few years before the great depression coincidence much?
8. i see the republicans will dominate the political spectrum for the next presidential election and do whatever there is in their power to repeal Obama care. the momentum will be carried on and pundits are saying its the republicans time to take the white house and Washington.
1.)Personally, I thought Kay Hagan losing was quite a surprise. We studied Hagan as our assignment and from my research I thought Hagan would come away with the victory.I thought her incumbency advantage would be overpowering since she has been a senator for 30 years. But Thom Thillis did a good job at linking Hagan to Obama. Which probably is why Hagan lost the race.
2.)The Wyoming senate race was the largest landslide victory. Mike Enzi secured 72% of the votes. He was the incumbent and also Wyoming is a very republican state which is in his favor since he is a republican Senator. The closest senate race was in Virginia where Warner edged out Gillespie by0.45%, only 12 thousand votes.
3.)Winning Republicans tried to link together democratic senators to Obama. They claimed that the senators rode the coat tails of Obama to win, now with Obama’s low approval rating it was wise to tie Obama close to the democratic senators.
4.)Rick Scott won the Gubernatorial race in Florida. Most political pundits say that voters took the approach of voting for the lesser evil. Campaign strategies was strictly bashing each other’s personal life. Crist attacked Scott mainly for his business history and insurance fraud. While Scott attacked Crist for switching of political party ideology, first being a Democrat then an Independent and running as a republican.
5.)The three news sources that I researched (CNN, Fox News, and NBC) all reflected that republicans dominated the elections. Even CNN which is known to have a more liberal view on things had the headline “Republican tide rips senate away from Democrats.” Fox news also shared the same view that republicans dominated by saying that mos polls were wrong and instead of narrow victories the Republicans blew out the democrats. Lastly MSNBC headline was “How the Coalition crumbled” referring to the democrat exodus out of the senate. All news agencies reported massive republican victory.
6.)Obviously a controversial, and interesting amendment in Florida was amendment 2 which dealt with medical marijuana. It didn't pass missing the target 60% by 2.5%. I believe it did not pass because of the wording of the amendment. It was worded extremely vaguely and was not concrete in its intentions. It sounded like people other than doctors could sell it which probably turned off some voters. This goes against a national trend as more and more states began to realize the wonders marijuana can do and unleash the herb to its full life changing potential.
7.)I believe the Florida governor race was the most important. First off because I live here and second off because the 2 candidates were so polarized. Both candidates were not the most straight laced and definitely had skeletons in their closets. I believe the governor race matters more than the senate race because the governor is the highest office a person can hold within a state.
8.)I believe that the blue tide is gone and republicans will now have their turn. Having control of the senate and the house will hopefully cause more bills to be passed and work to be done. I do believe that this will put Obama in a tough spot because he could be berated for vetoing too many bills, especially concerning the Affordable Care Act. In 2016 I see the republicans winning the election only because people are so sick of the democrat party after Obama had such a poor showing in office. Political Pundits can only speculate as of now as nobody has really declared if they are running for the presidency but the front runner for the democrats will most likely be Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul for the republicans.
(1B)
1)The most surprising Senate race to me was the Senate race in Illinois. Republican Bruce Rauner defeated Democratic incumbent Governor Pat Quinn. First of all he beat an incumbent. Next he used millions of his personal money to gain promote an anti-corruption businessman campaign. Which seem to have paid off in the end.
2)The biggest landslide race was that in Wyoming. The winner Mike Enzi had 72.3% of the votes, while Charlie Hardy only had 17.6% of the votes. I think more people voted Republican because of the recent circumstance with the Democratic Party and Obama.
3)The strategy that worked best for the Republicans was piggy-backing off of the Democrats mistakes and promoting solutions to the problems they made. While Democrat winners strategy was most likely the voter turnout and incumbency for some/
4)Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. The election results were very close between Scott and Charlie Crist that meant voter turnout was key for both parties.
5)Fox news graphs of data and pictures to kind of rub the Republican win in. NPR and CNN both have articles that analyze the results. Both websites say similar things about how Republicans took the seats and have full access and control of Congress.
6)Amendment Two in Florida did not succeed in passing. Similarly, medical marijuana did not pass but showed popularity, and this does show it favorable to legalization in the future whereas amendment two may take some time.
7)The Florida gubernatorial race was the most important in my opinion because it relates to me and affects me and my life, education, and future. I think the races are equally important because while the governor race decides what will go on in one state, in this case Florida, the senate races decide things that will be passed in the entire nation. Both have an effect of my lifestyle and my surroundings, thus both are equally important.
8)Over the next two years, I expect a lot of clash between Republicans and Democrats in Congress because now that Republicans have seem to taken over the democrats left will try their best to stop all republican ideals to slide through with ease. I think momentum for Democrats will increase by 2016, I think this entire ordeal has opened their eyes and placed a fire in them. Political pundits agree that the results of 2016 will be decided by the next two years and by which candidates who plan to prepare a strategic plan for the next race.
1. Seeing Colorado go from blue to red was definitely surprising to me especially when the incumbent was a democrat yet he was not reelected,Colorado is considered to be liberal state yet around 48.60% of the people voted for republican candidate Gardner.
2. Wyoming had the biggest land slide with 72% of the vote versus 18% going to the republican incumbent. The incumbent advantage is extremely beneficial for a candidate that has worked for the people in a positive way.
the closest race would be Virginia with a .8% of a difference between the republican candidate and the democratic candidate. Warner (D) barely got the advantage and kept his seat in the senate with 49.2% of the votes.
3. The Republicans used the negative image of Obama to their advantage and campaigned to say they would bring about the change people want. The Democrats distanced themselves from Obama and tried to set up their own basis and campaign that supported their platform and policy ideas.
4. Rick Scott won in Florida, the race for Florida was basically a vote for picking the better of the two. The biggest factor to play would be the lack of turnout and the amount of negativity in the campaigning, it took away from what constructive things they wanted to do as Governor.
5. Looking at MSNBC, FOX and CNN the numerical results are all the same, but the analysis includes bias. FOX highlights the republican wins and MSNBC highlights the democratic wins. CNN stays relatively neutral but does seem to favor the democrats at times.
6. The most controversial amendment would be the 2nd on the Florida ballot regarding medicinal marijuana. It didn't pass for multiple reasons, conservatives that live in Florida don't agree with the use of marijuana, and the way the amendment was written was also controversial. The trend looks to be as if its a state issue as other states have legalized the use of medicinal marijuana.
7. The most important gubernatorial race to me was the one held in Florida. Mainly because it directly affects me as I reside in Florida. I see the Senate elections and the governor elections as equally important. They both have the ability to change the political future of the country and states, respectively.
8. The next two years will most likely be a tug of war situation as Obama tries to either compromise with the Republican Senate. Either side will want their own agenda to be the center focus which will inevitably cause problems and tension. If the republicans in the Senate do a good job with compromising and working out their differences with the president it may work in their favor in 2016. The democrats will have to distance themselves from Obama and set up a new promising platform in order to gain ground and receive votes. Turnout is just as important, having a large turnout for the democrats will aid their vote count and likewise with the republicans.
1. The North Carolina senate race was the most surprising because I definitely thought that Kay Hagan had an advantage over Tillis because she was the incumbent.
2. The biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming with the Republican Mike Enzi winning, 72.3% . Because it is a red state, it made it harder for Harding to win. Louisiana has the closest race because the Republican vote was split.
3. The winning strategy for the Republicans were basically to stay as far away from Obama's policies as they could be, so that they were not affiliated with him. The winning strategy for the winning democrats was to also distance themselves from being affiliated with Obama as well and using the media as a resource.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida's governor rate by a landslide. The voter turnout for Scott and Crist ended up having a big impact on who won the election.
5. Fox displayed visual images such as graphs and actual data from the election while CNN and NPR used articles to display the outcome of the election.
6. Amendment 2 did not pass, it only received 57% when it needed 60% to pass. I think that people of Florida did not realize how medical marijuana can help many sick people, but thought that it would be used for recreational use instead, abusing the right to use it medically.
7. I believe the Florida governor race was the most important specifically because it directly affects my life and because the outcome was so close.
8. I think that in 2 years nothing will really get accomplished due to the fact that the Republicans control congress while the president is democratic. I also think the Republicans will impact the upcoming election or ultimately win.
1) North Carolina's race between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis was the most surprising senate race to me because it was such a huge upset for the democrats, not to mention that Hagan was already the incumbent and very popular.
2) The Senate race with the biggest landslide victory was that of Wyoming between Enzi and Harding. Mike Enzi won over a whopping 72.3% of the votes while Hardy only 17.6%. I think that the results turned out this way because Hardy was a weak opponent and Wyoming is a very republican state overall. Virginia was the closest race with Democrat Warner winning 49.1% of the votes and Gillespie with a close 48.5%.
3)The strategy that worked for winning Republicans was showing how much they were dissociated and against Obama. The winning Democrats did the complete opposite; Pro-Obama.
4)Governor Rick Scott won the Florida's governors race. Political pundits say that Rick Scott really emphasized the importance of the economy which helped him win.
5) Many different websites such as CNN, FOX and NPR show an analysis of the results but they all differ in how they do so. For example, while Fox shows the results through graphs, CNN and NPR have articles explaining the results. Fox really outlines how the republicans took over the race.
6)Amendment 2 regarding the legalization of marijuana was a very controversial amendment on the Ballot for Florida. It needed 60% to pass but only received 58%. I believe it did not pass because a lot of older people voted against it. This is not a national trend bur rather just for Florida.
7) I think Florida was the most important gubernatorial race in my opinion because Florida is a very critical state for election of president in 2 years. The governor races matter more than the senate elections because governors can become presidents.
8)I think in 2 years we will be campaigning for the Presidential election. This momentum will be carried over for both Democrats and Republicans in 2016. Also I believe that it will be better for the democrats in 2016 than in 2014.
1) I feel like the North Carolina Senate race was the most surprising because Tillis won over Hagan which I thought Hagan was the incumbent and that Hagan had the majority women vote to lead her to victory; however, Hagan lost.
2) Wyoming was the biggest landslide (Mike Enzi 72.29% to Charlie Hardy 17.56%) because they are strongly republicans with a small population so there views will not change as much as other states. Virginia was the closest race (Warner 49.05% to Gillespie 48.5%) because of the voter turnout and they both were strong candidates with similar views.
3) Republicans put down Obama worked for their strategy as Democrats distancing themselves from Obama worked for their strategy.
4) Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. The political pundits said it was a very close race down to the wire because it was in a swing state. Charlie Crist flip flopping parties and lack of voter turnout probably lead him to lose the election.
5) Yes (CNN, FOX, NY TIMES), because they all have their opinion on how it is going to effect the policy making cycle and how it will affect the country as a whole.
6) Amendment 2 on the ballot was not passed because there were too many loop holes in the bill for people to respect it. This is a national trend because the bill needs to be cleared up so there are no loop holes and needs to be more professional, not so sloppy.
7) The most important gubernatorial race was the Florida because it influences the place that I live in. The Senate election matter more because they control the countries policies as governor focuses on state issues.
8) The next two years there will be a republic wave because of Obama’s bad administration. This momentum will be carried over into 2016 for the Republicans for sure. The political pundits are saying a republican wave is going to happen and completed through the 2016 when a republican president will win. This is the bandwagon effect so independents and democrats alike might just vote for who they think everyone will vote for and not what they believe in. This wave will eventually crash just like a real wave and the cycle will happen again except for the democrats. The political cycle of life is like the real cycle of life.
1. Alabama's Senate Race was by far the most surprising only because the Republican Senator was uncontested.
2. Wyoming had the biggest landslide victory because Wyoming has always been Republican, so obviously, more Republicans will vote than do Democrats. The closest race was in Louisiana because it was a 1.2% difference in points between the Republican and Democrat candidate.
3. Republican used the strategy of distancing themselves from Obama. Democrats' strategy was strongly using media to influence voters and to avoid Obama as much as possible.
4. Rick Scott won the race for governor in Florida. Political pundits are saying the race is too close to call and that voters are turned off because of too many negative ads.
5. Most of the websites seem to be the same, such as how FOX, MSNBC, and CNN all talk about the impact that the Republicans have made by winning almost every election. MSNBC however, also focuses more on the Democrats' loss and what the presidency will be like now for Obama.
6. Amendment two was a controversial amendment on the ballot in Florida. The reason why it did not pass was because politicians felt as though medical marijuana's use would not be justified by being used only as a medical treatment; people might believe that recreational use of marijuana is allowed too. This is an indicator of a national trend because the legalization of marijuana is a dominant issue in the whole nation; people believe it could be a turning point in medical technology.
7. In my opinion, Florida's gubernatorial race is the most important to me because it's the governor here that is going to make an impact on me, not the governor in another state. The governor races I believe matter more because the governor is focused on you and your state unlike how Senators focus on large-scale, nation-wide issues.
8. I believe that the Republicans can do a good job in running Congress. This momentum will definitely be carried over to the Republicans in 2016, but will take some work for the Democrats. Political pundits say that the former Democrat Secretary of State will be an inescapable nominee for the presidency in 2016.
1. The Senate race that was most surprising to me was the race in North Carolina between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis. It was interesting how a state that was known for being Democratic was able to switch to being Republican. I honestly expected the power of the incumbent to power through the polls, but apparently Tillis had the upper hand.
2. The Senate race that was the biggest landslide victory between Enzi and Harding of Wyoming. Harding won with 72.3% and Enzi had only 17.6%. I think this was because the public was generally unhappy with the Democrats so the Republicans had a better chance. The closest race was the race between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis in which Hagan got 47.29% of the vote and Tillis received 48.97% of the vote. This was because the people were mainly democratic but wanted a change.
3. The strategy of the republicans was to separate themselves from Obama. Since Obama’s approval rating is so low the republicans separated themselves and mentioned how they voted against what he was trying to get approved. This separation and disapproval of Obama allowed the republicans to have a lead over the democrats. The Democrats were mainly unsuccessful because of the same reason the Republicans were so successful, Obama has a really low approval rating and people are starting not to like the democrats. Also the states that did elect Democratic senators tended to be states that were strongly democratic.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. The political pundits are talking lot about the Florida election because it was such a close election. They are analyzing what caused such a close race. The election results were very close between Scott and Charlie Crist, so voter turnout would have had a big impact. I think that negative ads also played a large role because they reminded he voters of everything bad the candidates had done and thus affected their opinion of the candidate.
5. Fox news shows more graphs and representations of data from the elections than an actual analysis. NPR and CNN both have articles that analyze the results. Both articles pretty much say the same thing about how Republicans swept the seats and now control Congress. It also talks about how Obama is going to comment on this on Wednesday, and how it will negatively affect him.
6. A controversial amendment on the ballot in Florida was the legalization of medical marijuana for people age 21 and older. Even though it got more than 50% votes to legalize it, the amendment needs 60% yes votes to be passed. So it did not get passed because a lot of elderly people in Florida vote, and they have more closed views about legalization of drugs than younger people do. I think it is a reason specific to the state, because many other states have legalized it.
7. The most important gubernatorial race was the Florida race because it was a very close race that was followed nationwide because of the closeness of the approval of the candidates. Senate races are more important because the senators have more influence over nationwide policy making, and what they do has more of an influence on America as a nation versus affecting only one state like the governor can.
8. I predict that even less will get done in Congress because it is controlled by Republicans and the President is Democrat. I think the momentum will be carried into 2016 for Republicans, because they are getting a lot of votes due to the bad image the Democratic party has because of Obama.
(1B)
1. The Senate race in North Carolina surprised me the most, as Kay Hagan, a Democratic incumbent in a state that was turning blue, had lost by a small margin of votes to Thom Tillis, the Republican candidate.
2. Wyoming had the largest margin victory, with Republican incumbent Mike Enzi having about three-quarters of the total amount of votes entered. Wyoming is mainly middle aged white persons; therefore, the Republican Party is of more significance to them, hence Enzi’s re-election. The closest race was in Virginia, with Democrat Mark Warner leading by less than a percent of votes, and some still needing to be tallied. The issue for Warner was that his rival, Republican Ed Gillespie tagged him as an Obama supporter, which made him lose some of the votes for popularity reasons.
3. Republicans won by essentially being Republican, in the sense that they used Obama’s low approval rating to their advantage. Just like in the Virginia race, for example, by simply pegging someone as a supporter of Obama, it makes them lose a lot of support that the candidate had or hoped to gain. The same was true for Democrats, as those that showed themselves separate from the President were more likely to win; however, it was a matter of the state’s party association, as even incumbents lost some races.
4. Republican Rick Scott won the Florida governor race. Most political pundits were split on deciding who would be victorious, and so there is a split in response, either approval or disbelief depending on whom they projected to win the race. Ideology most likely played the largest role in this, as the demographics of Florida are split: retirees in most of Florida, and immigrants in Miami. Thus, they would support Republicans and Democrats, respectively.
5. Between NPR, Fox News, and CNN, the reports for Senate races are physically and visually different, but in regards to content, there is no clear change between the three or any influence of bias. NPR shows a lot of other trivial information as a slideshow, and CNN offers the results of exit polls as well.
6. Amendment 67 in Colorado, which if passed would define a fertilized egg as a person, was rejected for a third time by the Colorado citizens. It failed to pass most likely due to the repercussions from this going into effect, mainly the fact that abortion would be considered murder if it had passed. It’s both caused by the state and states, as the Colorado citizens have already struck it down twice and thus felt the same toward it, and the states as a whole have the running issue of women’s rights, and this, to feminists, is considered a violation of those rights.
7. The Illinois gubernatorial race surprised me the most, and became the most important, as the state that sent out a Democratic president switched to allow for a Republican governor. In most cases, the Senate race matters more; however, with this case, this may lead to a total political upheaval by changing the nature of Illinois’s party identification, and it can start at the governor level.
8. In regards to the next set of elections, I think that Democrats will have a hard time finding themselves, as shown by these midterms. The momentum will definitely carry over, and it all comes down to how efficient the Senate is now. If more things get passed, then it’s safe to say a Republican will be in the White House for 2016; regardless, any Obama supporter unfortunately will have little chance at winning whatever race they are in.
Jarrod Darrow P1A Election Day Roundup Blog Post
The North Carolina Senate race was the most surprising to me, probably because Hagan was the incumbent and this was the only race I really knew anything about. I thought Hagan had a good strategy of distancing herself from Obama, agreeing on some issues a democrat typically wouldn’t agree on because she was running in North Carolina, and trying to appeal to women. Well J. Sessions won uncontested in Alabama because no one else was running against him. Republican candidates mostly relied on the fact that many people are unhappy with Obama, and he’s a democrat. Democrats tried to distance themselves from Obama and appeal to the many people who aren’t affiliated with a party by focusing on social issues that many women and young people agree with.
Rick Scott beat Charlie Christ for governor of Florida. Political pundits are saying that the economy and education spending were big issues that affected the race. I think negative ads had a big factor in the election, both candidates made lots of smear ads. Well FOX news headline was “GOP HANDED CONTROL OF SENATE IN REBUKE OF OBAMA POLICIES” and the main idea of their article was that since the election ended in a Republican majority, this is what America wants. CNN said that the Republicans “seized” the senate rather than that it was “handed” to them, and they talked about how the Republicans are going to “pin” Obama down for the next 2 years. NPR’s headline was “GOP takes control of Senate”, which seems pretty impartial, and the entire article was pretty objective. Amendment 2 in Florida for medical marijuana was pretty controversial. I think it lost because there are a lot of senior citizens in Florida, who tend to have a negative attitude towards marijuana.
I would say the Florida governor race was most important, because it affects me the most. Governors and senators both have a lot of power, but I think governors have more power singlehandedly, even though it’s over a state rather than the whole nation. I think the next 2 years will have a lot of gridlock, with the Republicans and Obama just constantly butting heads. This is what most political pundits think as well.
1) North Carolina's senate race was pretty surprising to me because the race was incredibly close despite Hagan being an incumbent.
2) Wyoming's results were pretty skewed - 72-18% in favor of Republican Mike Enzi. I'm not surprised by this - Wyoming is pretty conservative. Virginia is a very close state - 48 vs 49 % for Gillespie and Warner, respectively. I think this is because, while Warner is the incumbent, states have been voting more for Republicans than Democrats.
3) Republicans tended to associate Democrats with Obama, while Democrats painted the picture of Republicans as being radical.
4) Rick Scott won Florida's governor race. Political pundits have said that the race was incredibly close and that it would have been hard to predict which candidate would win. I would attribute the biggest role in the results to be the ideology of Crist and the Democrats as well as negative ads that were associated with both Crist and Scott.
5) FOX is focusing on how Republicans have won in a lot of states and are taking a lot of seats in Congress while msnbc focuses on the Democrats and what the turnout of the 2014 Senate elections means for the Democrats.
6) Amendment 2 was controversial. It did not pass, although it was pretty close to the 60% needed. I feel like it didn't pass because of the stigma surrounding marijuana as well as the controversy concerning the possible loopholes in the amendment.
7) Florida is a fairly diverse state and I feel that the Florida gubernatorial race was pretty important, mostly because I live in Florida. I feel like both matter equally, but to me, governor elections are more important as it focuses more on the states than on the nation as a whole.
8) I feel like Republicans will become more popular and will have a better chance at winning the 2016 presidential elections.
1. West Virginia had the most surprising Senate race because the winner, Shelley Moore Capito, is the first women to represent them along with being the first Republican to represent them since the 1950s.
2.Wyoming had the biggest landslide victory with 72.3% of votes towards Mike Enzi. He was the incumbenent serving his forth term. Virgina was the closest race with Mark Warner as the winner by just .8% of votes from big districts.
3. The strategy that worked for winning Republicans and Democrats was appealing to the common man and mud slinging their opponents.
4.Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. Political pundits are saying they're not surprised by this result because he was the incumbent and Charlie Crist was wishy washy with his ideas. Both of these men are corrupt but Florida went with who they know more about.
5. CNN and NPR are more analyzing the results with opinions of gains and losses for the senate while FOX and MSNBC are shooting out straight facts about the outcomes and, of course, celebrating the fact that the Senate is now controlled by Republicans.
6.Amendment 2 was a controversial amendment in the state of Florida. It did not get passed because it did not have enough regulations and Florida is a conservative state, passing that amendment would have given more power to the Democrats.
7. Florida was the most important gubernatorial race simply because that is the state where I live and the winner of that race will represent me, and impact me. Governor races matter more than the Senate election because they affect the state and individuals more. There's one governor and two senators per state. That one person will represent me.
8. For the next two years I believe that with the Republicans controlling the Senate and the House of Representatives they will try to repeal parts of Obamacare and pass more conservative bills. This momentum will be carried over in 2016 for Republicans because will them controlling all aspects of congress, more will get done. Political pundits are saying that current Democrats are distancing themselves from Obama so their party is all over the place right now. America needs stability and a Republican present will bring that to the table.
1. The race that I found most surprising was Virgin's race. Even though Warner (D) was expected to win, Gillespie (R) almost pulled out the upset with very little funding or help from the GOP.
2. Wyoming was the biggest land slide. Hardy (D) had only 18% and Enzi (R) had 72%. The reason for this is because WY is a predominantly Republican state. The closest race was the Virginia race with 49% supporting Warner (D) and 48%. The reason for this is because even though it is a blue state, this is a scathing indictment of current Democratic policies.
3.The strategies for the winning Republicans was to directly linking the Democrats with Obama, and the winning Democrats was to make the Republicans to look like extremist.
4. Rick Scott won. This was a very tight race between Crist and Scott. Both parties used negative ads and Scott proposed ideas to turn the economy around.
5. FOX shows the exit polls and graphs that represent the data from the election. NPR is stating all of the facts regarding the election. CNN covers all of the changes that occurred in the senate.
6. The marijuana law that was debated right here in Florida was very controversial because on the ballot the wording of the amendment created several loop holes, there are already laws in place here in FL that regard medical marijuana, and the THC can be synthesized and/or put into a tablet.
7. The governor’s race between Scott and Crist was the most important race because this is the decision that will affect us most directly.
8. I believe that more bills will be passed in the senate now that Reed had been removed. And it will put Obama in a very tough situation for decision. The momentum may carry over for the Republican if they keep true to their word. If not that will put the Democrats in a better position to take the senate.
1. The Senate race result which was the most surprising to me is Colorado. Under Barack Obama’s election wins in 2008 and 2012, Colorado is a blue state which indicates that it identifies as Democratic. However, Republican Candidate Cory Gardner won the race in a tight election against Democratic candidate Mark Udall by 2.7 percent.
2. The senate race with the biggest landslide victory is Wyoming. Republican candidate Mike Enzi had 72.1 percent of the vote while Charlie Hardy only got 17.6 percent. Wyoming had the biggest landslide because that state is traditionally conservative. The senate race that was the closest was Virginia. Incumbent Democratic candidate Mark Warner won against Republican candidate Ed Gillepsie by 0.8 percent. Mark Warner saw his support in Virginia drop drastically after Gillepsie attacked him for always agreeing with the president’s policies even though he had a moderate image. Warner was also involved in a scandal that was related to the resignation of a Democratic state senator.
3. The winning republican party’s strategy to win the senate race was to attack the president and focus on his failed policies. They also ran negative ads attacking the democrat senators for voting with Obama about 97 percent of the time. The winning democrats also spent millions during the campaigns.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor race because he used $13 million of his own money to put into negative ads against Democratic candidate Charlie Crist.
5. MSNBC was more liberal were typically liberal and focused on the obama and the senator democrats and their overwhelming loss. CNN seemed to be more conservative and focus on the republican party and highlighted negative aspects of the Obama administration. NPR seemed to be objective and give straightforward news about both the democrats and republicans results.
6. A controversial amendment in Tennessee that was passed was Amendment One which gave the state legislative power to restrict abortions. I think it was passed because Tennessee is a conservative state so they are most likely going to be pro - life.
7.The most important gubernatorial race was Florida because I wanted to know how Rick Scott was going to manage to maintain being governor because some of his policies have failed to come into fruition such as creating jobs for Florida residents. I wanted to know what new policies he was going to place to help Florida progress. I feel that the governor races are just as important as the senate elections because they are the head of the executive branch in their own perspective state so it is their job to make sure that the states are being run smoothly and that their policies are effective.
8. I think the republicans are going to do their best to attack the president’s image and the democrats in the senate so they can have an uphold in the 2016 presidential election. In an article in the New York times, it describes how midterm elections tell little about the presidential elections because the president’s party can rebound from major losses such as Bill Clinton who was reelected in 1996 even though there was a republican landslide in 1994.
1. The most surprising senate race to me was Kay Hagan's run because she became very popular among voters and people, and she was an incumbent as well, her strategies and policies seemed to be a lot more stronger than Tillis.
2. The biggest landslide victory during this senate race was Wyoming. Republican candidate Enzi won 72% of the votes where democratic candidate Hardy only received 18% of the votes. I believe this happened because the latest trend is increasing in republican domination and policies and the republicans seem to be more stronger and put together than the democrats.
3. The strategy that worked best for the Republicans was that they stuck to their own favored policies and were more against Obama's democratic policies which made them standout. Where as the democrats did have an advantage in advertisement but what hurt them the most was that they were in too close of policy relation to the republicans.
4. Rick Scott won Florida's governor race and many of the political pundits are are saying that between Crist and Scott, the race was very close and was a very well competitive race to victory.
5. Between NY Times, CNN, and Fox news all three websites display and show charts and analysis of the senate races and the percentage of votes for democrats and republicans etc. The NY times provides a partial article with visuals that correlate with what is being spoken about to better help understand the races and results, whereas the rest of the websites display mostly graphic results.
6. In Florida a constantly brought up issue and controversial amendment was the legalization of marijuana. It needed 60% of the votes to pass but only received 57%. This shows that many of the voters in Florida would like to see the amendment passed, but the missing percent of voters that were needed to pass the amendment did not agree or want the amendment passed which shows that much of Florida's voters are still half and half when it comes to certain issues.
7. The most important race to me was between Scott and Crist in Florida because i live in the state therefore I think it is important to know who the governor is going to be and the changes they are going to make that will affect my future. Between governor and senate i think both are equally as important because they both carry large roles.
8. I believe in the next two years democrats maybe able to get a comeback and attempt to dominate the senate, but that will only be accomplished if democrats really get their party and political policies in tact and secure instead of being all over the place. The republicans may continue to dominate if they stick to their strategies.
1) The Senate race that was most surprising to me was the North Carolina Senate race. The reason why is because Hagan was the incumbent and he didn't win despite how popular he seemed.
2) Wyoming had biggest landslide victory. I believe this is because they weren't happy with the Democratic Party.
3) Winning Republicans were to mentioning Obama and the negative things while the winning Democrats created distance from Obama.
4) Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. It was a very tight race. I believe the low voter turnout allowed for an easier victory.
5) NPR and CNN both analyze the results of the election and tries to find reasoning behind it while FOX is satisfied with how the Republicans took over the senate and also discusses Obama.
6) The use of medical marijuana didn't pass and I believe it is due to the type of people voting. Many older folk view the use of drugs differently than those younger than them.
7) In my opinion, I believe that the Florida governor's race was most important because it affects me a lot. I believe that Senate races or slightly more important due to them having a wider influence.
8) I believe that the momentum will begin to slow down due to the President being a Democrat while the Republicans are the ones controlling Congress.
1. The results from the race in North Carolina was the most surprising because Hagan, the incumbent lost. I knew that in politics nothing was guaranteed but I also didn’t think she would lose. Tillis’ tactics that we discussed in class proved to be powerful.
2. Wyoming had the biggest landslide race because it is strongly predominately Republican and the Republican opponent, Enzi, went against a weak Democratic opponent, Hardy. Virginia had the closest victory. Both the Republican and Democratic candidates had strong strategies that identified with the wants of the voters. Apparently the wants of the voters are pretty split giving each candidate enough votes to create a close race.
3. Republicans associated the Democrats that ran with Obama’s recent failures, like Obamacare. Consequently Democrats also tried to distance themselves from Obama’s actions. The Democrats also made great use of social media as a mode of connection and communication with voters,
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. I believe Florida voters viewed the candidates with an “either or” or “lesser of two evils” attitude. Voters had negative views about both candidates, causing them to display a nonchalant attitude. Many view Crist as a flip flopper when it comes to political parties and Scott as a criminal because of his past discrepancies.
5. FOX seems to be supporting of the Republican party gaining control of the Senate and is blaring victory graphs all over their website. CNN and NPR both discuss the results of the race. They do not show as much blatant bias as FOX.
6. Marijuana legalization did not pass in Florida. Many voters in Florida may be wary of passing the drug or are not as educated on its possible benefits as they are its drawbacks. Florida is more conservative than some of the other states that have passed it and now goes against the rising national trend of legalizing medical marijuana.
7. The race in Florida is the most important. I probably only think this because it is where I live. Senate races are more important because senators have the opportunity to influence national policies. Governors have a large impact on their individual states but not as much nationally.
8. I honestly believe the fate of both parties is in the fate of the voters. If the voters are happy over the next two years, there will not be much change. Drastic changes only happen when the voters are unhappy. If voters are happy with the actions of the now leaning Republican senate then perhaps more people will gravitate towards the Republican Party. If the opposite happens then perhaps more people will gravitate back towards the Democratic Party. If the voters are content change doesn’t seem as necessary as if they aren’t content. Some feel the next two years will be spent trying to undo Obama’s work. Others feel that the next two years will be spent arguing about the economy, birth control, and guns.
1. After reading the article about Kay Hagan in class, I honestly thought that she would've won North Carolina's senate race because she was an incumbent and she emphasized Thom Tillis' mistakes when it came to education and women's rights.
2. Wyoming's senate race was the biggest landslide victory with Mike Enzi, the incumbent, winning with 72.3% of the votes. The majority of the votes in all of the counties in Wyoming voted for Enzi, a Republican, so the people in Wyoming might not be satisfied with the Democratic party at the moment. The closest race was in Virginia between Warner with 49.2% of the votes and Gillespie with 48.4%. I think the race was close because both candidates were well-liked by the people of Virginia.
3. Winning Republicans tried to tie their Democratic opponent with the Obama administration, which is unpopular at the moment, so their opponent's popularity will decrease. Winning Democrats distanced themselves from Obama's administration and focused more so on how their policies will differentiate themselves from the image of Democrats that Obama has created.
4. Governor Rick Scott won the Florida Governor race. The political pundits are saying that the race was close and that both Scott and Crist had good chances of taking the win, but Scott's attacks on Crist, especially how Crist kept changing his party association, helped Scott to win.
5. CNN has a graph analyzing the results of the race and it makes a note of the Republican majority in the Senate. FOX also shows how Republicans have taken the majority in the Senate, but it emphasizes this fact more than CNN. FOX also provides short video clips about each of the races. MSNBC makes a note of the Democratic loss in the Senate.
6. Florida had a controversial amendment concerning the use of medical marijuana. It did not pass because a good majority of the Republicans were against the use of it. The rest of the nation seems to be advancing in terms of medicine by making medical marijuana legal, but it seems that Florida is still staying behind, refusing to change.
7. The most important gubernatorial race, in my opinion, is Florida's Governor race because I live in Florida and the choices that the Florida Governor makes influences me. I think that both the Governor and Senate races are important on their own terms and not one is more important than the other because each race would correspond to different issues.
8. I believe that since the Democratic party is tainted with the Obama administration's mistakes and the Republicans are constantly disagreeing with the Democrats, gridlock will happen more often than usual. It seems as if people are voting more towards the Republicans, however, since certain aspects of Obamacare is making the Democratic party more unpopular.
1. I think the senate race of West Virginia was shocking because they are a liberal state and democrats usually hold seats there. Now the Republicans hold that seat. Not only did West Virginia put a Republican in office but it is also their first female senator.
2. The biggest landslide race was Wyoming with Mike Enzi and Charlie Hardy. Enzi is also the incumbent of the state and it is hard to not vote for the incumbent. I believe the closes race was Virginia and it was fight between Warner and Gillespie. I believe the race was close because many people are wanting to go away from the liberals and more people turned out to vote.
3. The republicans focused on moving and going against Obama. The further away a Republican could make themselves from Obama, the more they became liked. The democrats has to maintain their positions. The party dealt with too many vulnerable democrats in red states which caused them the vote. They also made the republicans look like they were extreme.
4. Rick scott won the Florida governor's race. The pundits were correct on how the election would have turned out. The race was very close. People started to turn off the negative ads. The turn out was particularly high on african-american voters. Many votes were cast over the weekend at early voting. It was fair game for both candidates.
5. Fox news and NBC are similar but the layout and the color scheme. They both advertised that the GOP was going to take over the senate. CNN also clearly states that they advertised for the republicans to win the senate.
6. Medical marijuana in Florida was rejected. I believe this was rejected because the amendment itself was very broad. It could have been interpreted in many ways. If it was passed, it would have opened up a new can of worms. Many people who believed it should have been passed are all young voters. As may times it has been said that the elders are more likely to vote than the younger generation. Although it was close, it did not get the 60% to pass.
7. I believe that Florida's gubernatorial race was the most important. Not only was this the first I voted but you have two completely different candidates. This is our state and we live here and we want what is best for our state. It was also a very close race which says that Florida can easily go in any direction which is why we are known as a swing state. I believe that the governor races and the senate races have a difference importance. The governor looks at Florida on a local level but the senate helps represent Florida on a national level.
8. I think this wave of Republicans are going to force a change. The only branch that holds a democrat is legislative and Obama has the veto power. However someone will have to compromise to make changes to our country. I can see that Obama and Congress will often bump heads. Due to the lack of popularity of Obama, I believe that the democrats have a lot of reconstruction to do and to rebuild their reputation. If the democrats continue to do what they are doing now, Republicans will have the presidency come 2016. The pundits are saying that some states may go red that are usually blue. At this point it is fair game to both parties, however Republicans now need to stand their ground and move forward.
1. The most surprising Senate race was between Hagan and Tillis because I really thought that Hagan would win because she was an incumbent.
2. The biggest Republican landslide victory was the Wyoming race between Enzi and Harding were Enzi won 72.2% of the votes in Wyoming because Wyoming is major Republican state.
3. The Republicans mainly went for attacking the Democratic policies for example Obamacare. The Democrats tried to distance themselves from Obama's policies.
4. Rick Scott won the Governor's race. The political pundits were saying how the race was completely close but they realized that not a lot of Democrat voters voted.
5. FOX News really talked about how the Republicans victory of the Senate. Since CNN is more liberal, CNN was pretty neutral in the outcome of the races, but they did talk about how the Republicans dominated the race. MSNBC was discussing how the Republicans won majority of the Senate but they were bias towards the Democrats saying how they won the debates.
6. Amendment II for medical marijuana was a controversial topic because of course it did not pass. I think the reason why it didn't pass is because there's a lot of older people in Florida that when they were younger they were taught that marijuana was a dangerous drug to take so they don't really understand they medical benefits the drug can do for some people.
7. The Florida's gubernatorial race was the most controversial because of their beliefs and policies were so strong and they competition was really intense which made the race so close. I feel the governor's race was more important than the senate race because its directly going to effect me more because I live in Florida.
8. I feel like the next 2 years will be full will conflict and drama because since the Senate is now predominately Republican, there will be more things not accomplished because Obama is still President.
1. I feel like the North Carolina race with Hagan and Tillis was the most surprising to me because I had strong beliefs that Hagan was going to win the race because she was the incumbent, and since incumbents are those that already hold office, they have a much higher chance of winning.
2. The Senate race with the biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming with Mike Enzi ending up with 72.3% of the votes and Charlie Hardy left with only 17.6 %. I believe this occurred due to the unpopularity of the democrats. This unpopularity was most likely caused by president Obama and his Obamacare plan. The closest race would be the race in Virginia between Warner and Gillespie.
3. Since Obama has become so unpopular, the republicans used that to their advantage and milked the failures of the democrats and stated in their campaigns that they would bring about great change. The democrats just set up their own campaigns and talked about the changes they would make, ignoring Obama’s Obamacare plan at that point.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. Political pundits say that people were basically voting for the lesser of the two evils. Voter turnout played the biggest role in the results. This is because the race was so close.
5. Fox and MSNBC are the complete opposite on the political parties they support. Fox leans republican while MSNBC leans more democratic. Other websites such as CNN, NPR, and NYTimes seemed like they were relatively neutral.
6. The most controversial amendment would have to be the 2nd amendment on the Florida Ballot concerning the legalization of medical marijuana. It most likely didn’t pass due to the amount of conservatives that live in Florida. This is just an issue that rests within Florida because other states, like Colorado, have legalized the usage of medical marijuana.
7. I feel like the Florida gubernational race was the most important because I live in Florida and some of the decisions that the governor makes affects me. I believe that the governor and senate races are equally important because their polices and laws both affect my education and future.
8. There will most likely be a great debacle between the democrat and republican parties since the republicans took the senate this election. Political pundits cannot really speculate anything right now because not many have announced if they are running for the 2016 election or not.
1. The Virginia Race was the most surprising to me because Ed Gillespie was down in the polls ten days before the election by a big margin and now the race is too close to call for a winner.
2. The Alabama was the biggest landslide because he was unopposed and also Wyoming because Enzi won with 72% and Hardy had 18%. The closest race was Louisiana because it is going to a runoff election.
3. The winning republican’s strategy was to connect the democrats with Obama and the winning democrats to try to drift away from Obama.
4. Rick Scott. The race was very close but Scott became victorious. The use of negative ads by both Scott and Crist were tiresome because both candidates try to bash each other and instead of promoting their ideas for helping Florida.
5. Fox News shows how the republicans won the senate and the house by showing graphs and tables of the data of the races. NPR and CNN shows the facts on the races tell what happened in the races.
6. Amendment #2 on legalizing medical marijuana for Florida and it needed a super majority by getting 60% to win but it was 3% short of getting medical marijuana legalized. But the amendment said that it was written poorly so people did not vote for it because they misinterpreted the amendment.
7. Florida was the most important gubernatorial race because first of all it is where I live in and it will benefit more. Senate races matter more because the Senate are more direct to Washington so they will be able to get things done.
8. If republicans maintain a good job in the senate and the house they will be able to win in the 2016 presidential elections. But if they do not do well in the senate and the house than the democrats would overcome and win the 2016 presidential election.
1. The Senate race result in North Carolina between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis was the most surprising to me. Looking back on the article we read from October 21st, it seemed like Hagan was going to win because she had garnered lots of support from women, thus making Tillis look like the incumbent, but results tell the complete opposite.
2. The Senate race in Wyoming between Mike Enzi and Charlie Hardy was the biggest landslide victory. This was the case because Wyoming is mainly a Republican state and Enzi won with 72% versus Hardy's 17.56%. The closest Senate race would be located in Virginia between Ed Gillespie and Mark Warner. Warner was ahead of Gillespie by about 12,000 votes. It was close because of the good voter turnout.
3. The strategy that worked for winning Republicans was their choice to put down Obama and criticize his policies. For the winning Democrats, their strategy was to kind of distance themselves from Obama.
4. Governor Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. Political pundits have been talking about how tight and close the candidates were. Political ads that slandered each candidate played the biggest role in the results.
5. FOX news does their job by highlighting the win of the Republicans while NPR stated the truth. CNN analyzes the results and even adds how the Democrats can improve their faults.
6. Amendment 2 on the ballot in the state of Florida was controversial because it pushed for the legalization of medical marijuana. It did not get passed probably because the more elderly voters believe that we cannot trust all the doctors who may start to abuse it. But this is an indicator that may just be specific to the state of Florida because other states across the nation have already legalized marijuana.
7. The most important gubernatorial race in my opinion was the one in Florida. It is mainly due in part that this is the state in which we live in and Governor Scott's policies will personally affect our daily lives. The governor races matter less than the Senate elections because the senators represent the state at a national level.
8. For the next two years, I believe that the Republicans will continue to stay strong and they are the ones to carry the momentum over in 2016. With Obama having the unpopular vote, there will be lots of stress between the winning Republicans and angry Democrats. Political pundits have not really said anything yet.
1. North CArolina's senate race was most surprising, I think, because most people expected Hagan to win since she was the incumbent and people were unsure about Tillis, however that obviously did not happen.
2. The biggest landslide race was in Wyoming, which is a very red Republican state to begin with so that may be expected. Aside from Louisiana where the election left them without a Senator until December, Virginia was the closest race.Both parties voted and supported their candidates.
3. The Republicans were able to capitalize on the anti-Obama sentiment right now which ended up being very successful for them. Democrats were less successful in trying to blame Republicans for stopping progress and being uncooperative.
4. Rick Scott won the governorship in Florida. I think this is due to the effect of Christ's ever-changing ideology. People were probably either annoyed by his constantly shifting party allegiance or unsure of what he really believed since he kept shifting.
5. CNN, FOX, and NYTimes all pretty much have to report the same basic thing. Republicans had a very successful election. However, FOX is much more celebratory. CNN and NYTimes took a more informational approach.
6. Amendment 2 wasn't passed in Florida. I think that as far as states go, Florida is fairly conservative, aside from the Miami area and a few other districts. Florida is also a somewhat older state what with the large number of retirees. Because of these two things, I think the amendment didn't pass.
7. The Florida gubernatorial race is the most important in my opinion because it has the biggest effect on me personally. It all depends on whether you are considering the federal or state level. I think that the governor of Florida will effect me more than the senators, however Senate elections matter more to me than the governors elected to other states.
8. I think that the next two years will go one of a series of ways. Either Obama will veto and everyone will blame him for creating a stalemate OR Obama will pass Republican legislation OR (and I see this as a less likely option) Republicans continually trying to pass conservative legislation will convince people they aren't willing to work with democrats and will make people angry. Honestly I do think that a Republican will win the presidency in 2016 because that is the general pattern. Since about 1990 we have switched political parties every eight years and I do not foresee that pattern changing.
1. The most surprising senate race was in Kansas between Pat Roberts and Greg Orman because though Roberts though it was over due to the loss to the primaries in August and never had a serious general election challenge, his supporters saved his “worst” campaign to the win for Senate.
2. The Senate race in Wyoming had the biggest landslide victory because Wyoming is the most conservative state and has a Republican stronghold. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson won over Barry Goldwater won by a large margin in Wyoming. Because Wyoming has a low-population, Mike Enzi was able to talk to everybody and had most of the votes due to his supporters by 50%. The closest race was in Virginia because while Mark Warner was popular, got the highest approval ratings and did not get backed down at any time. While Ed Gillespie positioned Warner as Obama’s clone they both disadvantages like poor turnout and not financially prepared with interest groups and supporters.
3. Strategies to win Republicans are physically addressing their problems such Pat Roberts went to college students and use Obama’s approval ratings as to say the country’s current position(negative) due to the president’s decisions to certain issues. Discussing mostly about Obama and the problems in the White House is their simple plan to win. To win Democrats, they, too look for young voters to persuade and use television ads to send their messages across.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor’s race. News publishers said that the tight race could have resulted in either one of them winning as Governor. The negative ads had the biggest impact because it is displayed everywhere, short and precise which states Charlie Crist (opponent) has changed parties three times. This is a disadvantage to Crist and his voters watching it.
5. On CNN, the senate results showed up a list including a map, key races and all races in each state. While CNN displayed the results clearly, NPR stated the analysis of the now, red states; North Carolina, Iowa, Arkansas and Colorado. It did not have any opinions but just restated the facts from other resources. Lastly, the NY Times had a very detailed map of each state from mostly democratic to mostly republican.
6. A controversial amendment on the ballot in Florida was the legalization of medical marijuana.
The ballot only received 57% instead of passing the 60% mark to make it legalize. I believe that the reason it didn’t get legalize because a lot of elderly people did not want legalization of medical marijuana to be passed. It depends on the state and whether or not the people feel strongly toward the issue and crucial that it should be passed or rejected.
7. The most important gubernatorial race was the Florida race because it is a very tight race the whole nation is watching for especially since these two candidates have different two stances, of course and both have experienced a role as governor. Senate races are more important because the senators have more influence over the policy-making, rather than a governor who just run over the state legislature. 8.
8. I predict that not much will get done in Congress now to the next presidential election when the president is a Democrat while the Senate is mostly republicans. I think the momentum will be carried into 2016 for Republicans, because they are getting substantial votes because the end of Obama’s term as president is almost over. The republicans have a chance to shift the major political art and support to their side.
1) The senate race that really surprised me was the Colorado race between Mark Udall and Cory Gardner. This race surprised me because a republican took over a democrat's seat, and Colorado is usually pretty liberal in it's policies. 2)The biggest landslide victory was the Wyoming race between Mike Enzi and Charlie Hardy (72% to 18%). I think this was the case because Wyoming's demography is not varied (90% white)and they are pretty conservative in most of their policies. Also, they have had Republican senators since 1979. The closest race was Virginia between Mark Warner (49%) and Ed Gillespie (48%). I think this race was so close because Warner emphasized the fact that he was independent of Obama yet Gillespie tried to portray Warner as a typical democrat, and there was a large turnout. Voters were split between the candidates as they both had favorable policies. 3) The Republicans focused on criticizing the liberal policies and trying to affiliate the Democratic candidates with Obama and his unfavorable policies as much as possible. The Democrats used a lot of social media and focused on campaigning, spending lots of money and trying to somewhat distance themselves from Obama as well. They focused on securing votes from Democrats and Democrat leaning voters. 4)Rick Scott won the race. The political pundits are saying that it was a good, close race. They are attributing his victory to advertising, which was mostly negative. 5)CNN focuses mostly on the disappointment the Democratic party is facing and how the Senate was "ripped away" from the Democrats.On the other hand, FOX is much more upbeat, talking about the Republicans sweeping victory, the future of the part in the House as well as the public opinion of Obama. Lastly, NPR seems the most objective as they discuss the races and the results in most of the states.6)In Florida, legalizing marijuana was a very controversial amendment on the ballot. I do not think it passed because it would have altered Florida's Constitution, so they needed 60% support which is a large majority and only got 57%. Since such a large majority was needed and there was a large Republican turnout it didnt pass. This is not an indicator of the national trend, as more and more states are legalizing it. 7)To me, the Florida gubernatorial race was the most important to me because it is the one that affects me directly, since Rick Scott is now the governor of the state I live, and his actions affect me and my life. I think the Senate race is more important since it is on a larger scale and can influence national policy, not just individual states. 8)Political pundits say that 2016 really depends on what happens in the next two years as well as the candidates that each party chooses. Personally, I think that the next to years are not going to be very productive and that there will be a pretty big gridlock for most things. I doubt the momentum will be carried over since people will become sort of disenchanted with our inability to get anything done so it will really just depend on the candidate.
1. The Senate race that was most surprising would probably be the North Carolina one because by reading the articles and seeing how Hagan was ahead in the polls you would think her strategy to appeal the people with her policies ,and Tillis focusing on her views towards the president infrastructure instead of important problems you would think she had the race in the bag.
2. The biggest landslide would be Wyoming due to the fact that the range of votes were so wide spread and all the things going on in the democratic party itself. The closest race was to me Colorado Gardner 48.5% Udall 46.0% which was another shocking outcome.
3. A strategy that worked for winning republicans was the strategy of showing the democratic weakness of the "rebelling" against the president not proving their loyalty which got a lot of people concerned. For democrats the different non-conservative policies that there for such as legalizing gay marriage which will always appeal to more libertarians than republicans.
4.Governor Rick Scott won the Florida governor race. The race was always very close as the reporters say it could have went either way. I think the voter lack there of played a big part in the result because of the negative ads and the different ideologies people just wanted the race to be over and done with and did not care enough to actually go and vote.
5.Fox News has more pictures and graphs to broadcast the elections in a fancy manner whereas CNN were focused on more update world topics and simply stated the results in a list.
6. The number one amemnement mos talked about was amendment 2 in regards to legalizing medical marijuana which since we did not get to the 60% or 65% of people for legalizing it was not approved. I think it is because Florida because it is a very "conservative" state and they have different ways of seeing things we could not get enough people to legalize it. Since it is already legalized it in other states I do not think it is a national thing because sooner or later more states will legalize it and Florida will still be the same.
7. The most gubernational race in my opinion would be Florida because that is the main one I followed and I know both candidates campaigned nationally. The governor race does not matter more than the senate race because the governor race is just for that particular state the senate controls a good chunk of the nation meaning they can over rule a governor if need be.
8. The next two years I think will be exciting for republicans because they were the majority vote in all the races, yet I do not think much will change in the next two years. For Democrats I think it is a wake up call to come and step things up and be politically adequate. Political pundits say that the next President will most likely be republican and most democratic states will rule out and majority will vote republican.
Kaycee Threatt 1B
1.) Virginia's results were the most surprising to me since the race was so close. Gillespie had the lead just ten days before final results, yet Warner pulled the win.
2.) The biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming, where Republican Mike Enzi won with 72% of the vote. Other than Hardy being a weak opponent, Enzi's incumbency advantage and the preexisting Republican support in Wyoming ensured Mike's victory.
Virginia's race was the closest with Warner receiving 49% of the votes and Gillespie earning 48%
3.) Winning Republicans used President Obama's approval rating to further associate the Democratic candidates to him and defame their policies. The winning Democrats attempted to stick to the liberal policies yet distance themselves from Obama as much as possible.
4.) Rick Scott won Florida's Governor race. Pundits are reporting the it was a very close race and Scott or Crist could've easily pulled the victory. Low voter turnout played its role in Scott's win, as there were more Republicans to vote than Democrats.
5.) Fox provides more graphs and representations of the election data rather than providing actual analysis, probably in efforts to avoid bias. MSNBC and CNN report the findings similarly, explaining the Republican taking of the seats and their upcoming opportunity for control.
6.) Amendment 2 on the Florida Ballot regarding the legalization of medical marijuana was very controversial with just 2% of the voted causing its disapproval. This was possibly due to the views of the many conservatives living in Florida, believing it would somehow lead to an abundance of recreational use.
7.) The most important gubernatorial race is Florida because it's the only one that effects me directly. Both the Senate and Governor races are important; they control the future policies of the country and the individual state.
8.) With the Republicans taking the majority in the Senate, there will be a lot of tension and clashing as the Democrats will still try their best to pass their liberal policies. The momentum of 2016 will remain with the Republicans since Obama and the democrats aren't the most popular in the eyes of the nation.
Period 1B
1)The senate race that was most surprising to me was the NC race, as I thought Hagan would able to pull off a win being the incumbent. In addition, Hagan was also leading in the polls. Tillis and the Republicans had a successful senate race.
2)The biggest landslide victory was the Wyoming Senate Race where Rep. Mike Enzi won with 72 % of the vote. Wyoming is a predominantly Republican state, and with the incumbent being Republican that decided the race then and there. In addition to this, as seen by the election results America is siding more with Republican ideology. The closest senate race was in Virginia, with Warner winning by about .5 %. This race was so close as Virginia is a swing state and there was an extremely well voter turnout.
3)The Republican strategy for a victory to tie the Democrats to the flaws of President Obama and his administration, which proved to be quite successful. Consequently, most Democrats didn’t want Obama on the campaign trail. This strategy didn’t prove too successful.
4)Rick Scott won the Florida Governor’s race. Even through all the polls and analysis the pundits claimed it would be a toss-up. Some polls gave Charlie Christ a slight lead, but it mainly depended on voter-turnout. The dominance of campaigns was negativity and lack of actual plans for office.
5)CNN and NPR acknowledged the Republican victory and had articles with analysis on what they did right. FOX news had a lot of visual representations about the victory, and made emphasis on the polls being wrong. CNN had an article about an address that Obama made and says that he is willing to work with Republicans in addition to executive action.
6)Living in Florida, it is only appropriate to choose the extremely controversial Amendment 2 about the legalization of medical marijuana. The fact that Florida is home to a lot of older age people probably led to the Amendment 2 not passing. It is important to note that it need 3 % more to pass, and this can be done by improving the amendments quality and being as specific as possible. This goes against the trend as D.C. in addition to other states have passed this law already.
7)The most important Governor’s race was Florida’s as it was an extremely close race along with an intense rivalry between the candidates. Both candidates had their previous issues, but that was the only thing that people gained from the campaign ads. It was interesting to see that the incumbent won, as I thought for sure that Christ would take it. I think the Governor’s race is more important than the Senate’s race as the Governor’s decisions will affect us a state and it is more localized and make more policies that affect more people.
8)The fact that the Republicans now control both the Senate and the House more will get done in the Legislative side of things. Whether Obama will agree to these actions no one knows, he has said that he is willing to listen and debate on some changes to Obamacare. This momentum will most likely continue onto 2016, and if Republicans can agree on good candidates they have the keys to the White House in their pocket already.
1. The victory of Senator Shelly Capitol in Virginia was incredibly surprising because she is the 1st woman senator in south Carolina and the 1st republican senator in south Carolina since the 1950s.
2. The senate race in Wyoming was the largest landslide, with Republican M. Enzi winning by a vote of 72.3%. He was the incumbent and this marks his 4th term, so clearly he has a very positive public image. One of the senate races in Virgina was the closest race, with Democrat M. Warner winning by just .8%. When looking at a map of the districts in Virgina and who won in each district, it appears the Warner simply won the larger districts while his opponent won a large amount of the smaller districts. Many people may have wanted change, but not enough to actually get it.
3. Throughout this whole campaign, republican and democrats both practiced a great deal of mudslinging. They also tried to appeal to the common man and distanced themselves from Obama. 4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor race. Political pundits are not surprised. Rick Scott was the incumbent and while many people didn't like him, many people also did not like Crist and felt he could not be trusted due to his constantly changing ideas and political parties. This distrust probably had the biggest affect on the election as well as mudslinging and negative ads.
5. When comparing NPR, FOX and CNN I found that Fox had a very conservative viewpoint and really highlighted the victories of the republicans in the election, while CNN is much less biased and just analyzes the results, yet leaned slightly toward the liberal end of the political spectrum. NPR just analyzed the results.
6. Medical Marijuana, amendment 2, did not pass in the state of Florida. This is most likely due to its lack of regulations. Many people felt it would allow just about anyone to be able to obtain marijuana. Florida is also a very conservative state.
7.I think the governors races are most important than the senator races simply because you only have one governor per state and they result in more of an immediate affect on citizens. I think that Florida was the most important governor election simply because it's in my state and this guy represents where I live. Obviously, the fact that I live in a state makes that election the most important one. 8. Who knows what is in store for the next 2 years? Republicans control the house and senate so they will most likely try to edit or repeal parts of Obamacare and pass more conservative bills/amendments. People appear to be distancing themselves from Obama and the political pundits seem to be predicting a Republican president in 2016.
1. The North Carolina senate race between Hagan and Tillis was most surprising to me, especially after reading all those articles in class. Hagan seemed to be the more popular option, as she was the incumbent and had more experience, yet Tillis won.
2. Wyoming had the biggest landslide, partially because of the winner's incumbency advantage and partially due to the homogeneity of its population. Louisiana had one of the closest races, likely due to their "jungle primary system," where there can be more than one candidate representing each party. This leads to a lot more division and disagreements within the parties, and therefore closer races.
3. The Republicans successfully associated the Democrats with Obama's unpopular policies, which led to their victory. Democrats who won mostly did so by distancing themselves from Obama.
4. Scott won the race, but most political pundits are calling it the most negative gubernatorial race ever. Both sides were seen as petty due to their negative ad campaigns, and in the end, it came down to who the voters hated the least. Most people seemed to think Christ was less trustworthy since he had flip-flopped several times.
5. CNN is relatively balanced in its analysis of the results, as it considers why it turned out the way it did. Fox, on the other hand, says that the voters clearly wanted Republicans to win and that this election could spell out a change in American politics. MSNBC claims that the opposing party control of Congress has been typical of second Presidential terms for the last four presidents, and therefore is not as worrying as people may think.
6. Florida's Amendment 2, which called for the legalization of medical marijuana, was very controversial because most of its supporters are the youth, but Florida's population is heavy on the elderly side. It failed because of this imbalance. In contrast, most states across the country have legalized marijuana for medical purposes.
7. Florida's gubernatorial race was most important to me, only because it will directly affect me for the next couple of years. They matter more, because the senators tends to focus on foreign policy while the governors enact changes that are specific to the state, which affects the people more directly.
8. There is going to be a lot of conflict between Obama and the Republicans over the next two years, as the will continually try to overturn his policies. However, they may get more done since they are mostly in agreement over their policies. It may translate into future successes, since the economy seems to be improving and so the Republicans will become associated with this progress. Political pundits are saying that it may be harder to lock in specific states as definitively Republican or Democrat now, since many of them have been swinging back and forth in response to party images.
1. The Senate race that was most surprising to me was in Virginia. The republican candidate Ed Gillespie started the race with a huge lead over the democratic candidate Mark Warner, but some how Warner earned enough votes to gain the lead to get 49.16% of the votes,
2. The biggest landslide occurred in Wyoming between Enzi and Harding. I believe this happened just because the state was generally fed up with the democratic party. The closest race happened in Virginia.
3. The strategy for the republican party was to focus their ads on Obama in relation to the democratic party to make the rest of the democrats look bad. With that said the general strategy of the democrats was to distance themselves from Obama and his reputation.
4. The winner of Florida's governor race was Rick Scott. For the most part the race was close with a big role of voting and voter turnout as both candidates were looked down upon as good candidates.
5.Between CNN,FOX, and MSNBC all generally have the same info and about how the influx of republican seats will effect the senate but all have different perspectives wether negative or positive.
6. Of course Amendment 2 in Florida is a big controversial topic. I don't believe it passed because marijuana legal or not is looked down upon from the older population and especially with Florida's big population of people 65+ I'm not surprised it didn't passed but was shocked of how close it was.
7. I believe the most important gubernatorial race was Florida's as (1) it will effect me the most and the race in itself is interesting as both candidates had a not so great rep and the republican Rick Scott won the race.
8.Of course with the republican advantage in the senate now and a democratic president even less will be passed and get done now unless Obama is open to some change to secure and help his reputation and increase his approval rating. I think there is a good chance the Democrats could win the next presidential election but they will have to have a good candidate as well as excellent campaign to get all their voters out of hiding.
1: The North Carolina race because Kay Hagan was far enough ahead of Tillis in the polls, and she went to great lengths to try to get the Republican vote.
2: In my opinion, West Virginia was the largest landslide victory, and I think this is so because under Democratic leadership the state is doing very poorly economically, so I believe they wanted to try to switch things up. Louisiana was closely contested, and I believe this is so because neither of the candidates were very popular among the people.
3: Some Republicans leaned more towards the middle of the political spectrum, and since Obama's approval ratings are low, and many, many Democrats are associated with him, this puts the Republican Party ahead of the Democrats on the popularity scale. A lot of the Democratic winners were incumbents in their states, which was probably the main reason they won.
4: Rick Scott won the Florida governors race. Many people are surprised because Charlie Crist was ahead in the polls as of recently, especially after the fan incident. The biggest factor in Scott's win was the people of Florida's growing dissatisfaction with Democratic policies and also how Charlie Crist was closely associated with President Obama and a big supporter of President Obama. The voter turnout varied state by state, but not many people showed out. An estimated 37% of people turned out to vote, which is not very good at all.
5: MSNBC is very hostile towards the newly elected Republican senators, NPR is not talking a whole bunch about the outcome of the race, and the NYTimes has a few front page articles about the race and analysis.
6: Medical Marijuana in Florida was a very controversial amendment on the ballot. I believe it was rejected because the law was poorly written with too many loopholes in it, even designating criminals as "caregivers". I believe it is not a national trend, just state specific, because in my opinion, if it was written better, it would have unfortunately passed.
7: I believe Florida was the most important, mainly because Florida is one of the key states that the GOP can use to their advantage in the 2016 presidential election.
8: I believe dissatisfaction with President Obama will grow in the next two years, because not a whole lot will get done politically, and all the blame will be on the president because he will most likely veto every bill that comes across his desk as a slap in the face to Republicans. I believe the Republicans have serious momentum going into 2016, because this election has proved that the Democratic party is becoming less and less popular. Pundits have talked about the possibility of a Republican candidate in the White House in 2016, but nothing concrete has really been made as a prediction.
1. The Senate race that was most surprising to me was in North Carolina between Kay Hagan and Tom Tillis. I expected Hagan's incumbent advantage to help her in the close race.
2. The biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming. Republican candidate Mike Enzi won over Charlie Hardy with 72% of the vote. This is most likely because of the conservative politics. The closest senate race was in Virgina between Warner and Gillespie. The race was so close probably because there was a chance for Gillespie to win the seat but Warner was just barely popular enough to keep it.
3. Republicans could run on the low ratings of Obama and that they were not like him, which could cause some people who were unhappy with the way that things have been going. Democrats may have gained some votes distancing themselves from Obama but encouraging voter turn out was probably the best strategy they used.
4. Rick Scott won the governor race in Florida. The race was very close but many said that it was one of the most negative in history. So much money was spent on negative ads from the other candidate which lowered the approval rating of both candidates, but mostly against Charlie Crist.
5. FOX elevates the Republican take over of the senate almost dramatically, and continuing to criticize Obama's reaction to the results. NPR was mostly focused on the facts of the results of the races. The NY Times had some articles with only facts along with some that criticized the negativity coming from the Republican party in the races and the huge amount of money spent on their campaigns.
6. In Florida, the use of medical marijuana just barely failed to obtain the 60% majority it needed to pass. This might be because of the high amount of older people who typically vote more conservatively. It also could be because the amendment may not have been clearly written enough for some people to say yes to. This seems to go against the national trend.
7. I think that the most important gubernatorial race was in Florida because it is an important electoral prize for the 2016 presidential elections and the governor will be expected to campaign votes for their party's nominee. I would say that the senate races are more important because they pass legislation on a more national level which effects more people in the country.
8. The Republicans now control the House and the Senate so they may be able to pass more conservative legislation or at least block more of the things Obama is trying to get done in his last two years. I think it is possible that some of the momentum may carry over into 2016 but public opinion is unpredictable. Just two years ago with the reelection of Obama many people were signing the death sentence of the Republican party. Some people are saying that the midterm elections could imply that some swing states in the 2016 election might vote more conservatively.
1. The Senate race that was the most surprising was the race in North Carolina. Hagan was an incumbent and the state of North Carolina is said to be usually leaning towards the Democrats. Although the results were close, the Republicans won.
2. Wyoming was the largest landslide due to the state always being Republican being filled with a population of conservatives. The closest race was Louisiana which actually ended up in a runoff, and the reason this race was so close was due to the fact that the Republican party was split on their candidates.
3. For Republicans, their strategy consists of mainly criticizing Obama and how they could improve at what he has done wrong. For Democrats, their strategy is to distant themselves from Obama and explain how they would do things differently.
4. The Florida's governor race resulted in the victory of Rick Scott. Pundits are mostly saying that the race was winnable by both parties and Rick Scott got and edge due to their higher vote turnout.
5. Fox News analysis focuses on the new gained power of Republicans and how this will affect Obama. CNN is staying more neutral talking about specific states turnouts and what Republicans are saying with their win. MSNBC is clearly focusing on Democrats and what is next for them.
6. Amendment 2 was very controversial because it involved an illegal drug becoming legal for specific users that needed it medically. The reason why it did not pass, was because many people are anti-drug and do not focus on the pros of its use and mostly on its cons. Also the majority did vote yes however it was not over 60% which is what is needed to pass an amendment in Florida. It is a complete indicator of a national trend as marijuana's legalization has occurred in a couple of states for recreational use and even more states for medical.
7. The most important gubernatorial race was most definitely Florida since it has a lot of Republicans and foreigners being Democrats. This caused the race to be very close and it is also important due to the fact it will affect me the most. Senate races matter more due to the fact a senator has more power overall than a governor.
8. I think the next two years will be slightly more productive due to the fact the Republicans have majority power in both the Senate and the HoR so more bills can be passed even though it favors one party more than the other. This momentum could possibly be carried over to 2016 due to the fact that Obama's approval rate is so low and Republicans can take advantage of that. Political pundits say it depends on who wins the presidential primaries for both parties as who the candidate is can affect the turnout drastically.
1) The most surprising senate race result was West Virginia. Not only was a republican elected but it was their first women senator ever elected in West Virginia.
2) Wyoming had a landslide victory with their GOP incumbent Enzi leaving the democrat Hardy in the dust. This was due to Wyoming being a predominantly republican state. Virginia had the closes race with the republican Gillespie only losing to democrat Warner by less hen a whole percentage point.
3) The Republicans took advantage of Obama’s low approval rating I feel and campaigned to chip away at the widely disliked Obamacare. The democrats who managed to gain seats for themselves had to distance themselves from Obama as well in a last ditch hope to arise victorious in a party who has fallen out of the limelight due to Obama.
4) Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. The race was quite close which made voter turnout crucial in this race.
5) Fox, CNN, and MSNBC all present the facts of the election, Fox chooses a more celebratory manner while CNN stays neutral. MSNBC does admit that the republicans won the senate but makes a point to point out democratic victories as well.
6) Amendment 2 that was voted on in Florida that would legalize medicinal marijuana was controversial. While it did not pass in Florida, other places such as D.C. has legalize its use for recreation, pointing out the viewpoint on the legalization of marijuana is not uniform nationwide.
7) The most important gubernatorial race in my opinion was the Florida race as it was so close. I feel the governor races are more important than senate races. Much more legislation goes through local state legislatures than it does on the federal level so governors are dealing with much more than one would think.
8) I think there will be an increase in legislation passed to the GOP holding a majority in both the house and senate. As long as no controversy arises that castis the republicans in a negative light more than is usual, the republicans should have favorable results in 2016.
1) North Carolina surprised me the most because from the article we read in class, I thought Hagan was going to win because it was lead to be a more Democratic place and a Republican won.
2) The biggest landslide victory was Wyoming. Enzi won by 72.3% compared to Hardy that got 17.6%. This might be because they could be unhappy with Democrats. The closest race was Virginia.
3) The strategy for winning Republicans was that everyone is unhappy with Obama so we can change everything. Winning Democrats had good ads and spread their messages out more.
4) Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. The race was close, so it there were more voters then it might have affected the votes slightly.
5) Fox,CNN, and MSNBC all show the same charts and data. Fox is more Republican so they were more content with the results, unlike CNN.
6) Amendment 2 didn't pass in Florida. Most people were upset with these results. It would end up being more accessible and give more people reasons to smoke or it would help them medically. Larger voter turnout on this would've helped get more accurate results.
7)The most important in my opinion is Florida since I live here. The governor's race was more important to citizens because they dealt with larger issues.
8) I think in the next two years it will be a mess in Congress. Views won't add up between the Republicans and Democrats. If there was better turnout, the Democrats could come out on top like they almost did for the governor's race.
1. The most surprising Senate race results was West Virginia's because for the first ever they had a women win, and they also had the first Republican win office since 1950.
2. The biggest landslide victory would be the one in Wyoming, were Mike Enzi one by 72.3%. Enzi had a high chance of winning due to the fact that he was the incumbent, serving his fourth term. The closest race would be in Virginia, between Ed Gillespie and Mark Warner. There was a .8% difference, resulting in Warner winning. Warner was the incumbent who won mostly big district votes who were mainly Democrats.
3. A strategy that both the Republicans and the Democrats used in winning the election was distancing themselves from Obama. The Republicans used Obamacare as a large way to get to office, promising that they would try and do something about it. The Democrats acknowledged that Obama's actions weren't something that they wanted to support, so they voiced those opinions.
4. Rick Scott won the Governor's race in Florida. The political pundits are saying that it was a close race, but that's normal for Florida. Some are not that surprised, but they knew that it would be a close competition. I think that the biggest role in the win was the ads that were running non-stop. Charlie Christ was painted as a bad guy, and the past doesn't lie. You had one guy (Crist) who was Governor when the economy was really bad and he could only do so much, on the other hand you have the incumbent (Scott) who has been in control the past couple years, so people know and trust him. In my opinion, the odds were against Crist, so the fact that he pulled out really close to Scott is shocking.
5. CNN has taken a more mild approach. They are giving the results and analyzing why the Democrats lost. FOX is loudly stating their support of the Republican takeover of the Senate. NPR is alike with CNN and have more articles analyzing the results, whereas FOX has more charts and visuals.
6. The legalization of Marijuana was a big controversy. I do not support it because I think that the law was written too lose and almost anyone with a doctors note will be able to get it. I think people want it to pass, but people are either hesitant or they don't fully understand the law itself. It's a debate everywhere, because in three states it did pass.
7. The most important Governor race would have to be in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker won a strong Democratic state. He is a conservative Republican and the state of Wisconsin hasn't had a Republican in office since 1984. Him winning fits in with the Senate races as well, since the Republicans took over. I think the Governor races matter more, because those people represent us at a local level, whereas Senate is a federal level.
8. I think that the Republicans will try and keep the momentum up. They will be charged and ready to make a change in the upcoming two years. They are going to be looking more into Obamacare as well as trying to get a Republican to replace Obama in 2016. The Democrats, even though they don't control senate anymore, will be pushing for someone Democratic to replace Obama, so they won't lose all control.
1. In my opinion, the senate race that yielded the most surprising results would have to be the Virginia race. This is most shocking due the standings just days before the race in which Gillespie was basically trailing. Similar to the Kay Hagan defeat this race revealed to me the true nature of how unpredictable this races can be.
2. In my opinion the Alabama race was the biggest landslide victory out of all the races. Only one person was running which I find funny. With that being said he won with a hundred percent of the votes.
3. The strategy I believe came through for the Democratic Party candidates was the ability to in a way separate and distancing themselves from Obama. For the Republican Party candidates the most powerful strategy was trying to associate the democrats with Obama. The most obvious strategy used by both democrats and republicans was the use of negative ads against each other.
4. In the Gubernatorial debate Rick Scott defeated Charlie Crist, it is important to be because Florida is where I live and everything preformed politically in Florida will affects one way or another.
5. Fox, NPR along with CNN are some of the websites that I visited. The approach used by FOX was more on the visual spectrum using graphs and tables. CNN along with NPR however, used articles to recap on the results.
6. The vote on medicinal marijuana was the most controversial because a lot of people realize that the risks far outweigh the benefits if this was past. Yes marijuana can be helpful medical wise but the miss use of this herb is what I think caused its downfall.
7. The Gubernatorial Florida is the most important due to the simple fact that I live in Florida and everything politically passed or restricted can affect me along the road.
8. I believe that in the next two years the republicans dominate politically while the democrats struggle for a comeback for the next presidential election.
1. The North Carolina senate race was the most surprising to me because it is widely known that incumbents usually win, especially if they are well-liked and popular.
2. The biggest landslide victory in the senate race was Wyoming. Mike Enzi is the incumbent and took the victory with a 72.3% winning vote. This was probably the case because he is an incumbent and Republican, and Wyoming is a very conservative state. The closest senate election was in Louisiana and I believe this was the case because neither of the candidates were very popular within the state.
3. There wasn’t much of a strategy from the republicans, other than associating democratic candidates and party with Obama’s mistakes. The winning democrats used the states that are a majority democratic already and focused on ideas such as women’s rights and racism.
4. Rick Scott won the governor’s race in Florida. The pundits said that Florida’s race was close, but not quite as close as everyone expected. The overwhelmingly unpopular politics of the democratic president caused people to distance themselves from the Democratic Party, giving a favorable push for the republicans. There was a low turnout in Florida was due to the lack of young democratic voters, again distancing themselves from Obama and the party.
5. I don’t see any obvious differences in the way the results were reported nor the analysis. Almost everyone agreed that the republicans won big time and it was partly due to the anti-Obama uprising and almost all of the predictions about the effects of the results were the same, when it came to the change Obama is going to need to make in order to keep the followers he has left. Fox News does celebrate the win more than the other news stations, which is expected considering they are more of a republican facilitation.
6. Amendment 2 probably didn’t pass in Florida due to the low voter turnout of young democratic voters, leaving the voting up for the older, socially conservative voters, and Florida tends to be more on the Republican side of things. I think it is a little specific to the state because there are a lot of retired people living in Florida, which tend to lean more conservative, making amendment two an unlikely win in the state.
7. The most important gubernatorial race in my opinion is Florida’s because I live here and all laws and policies at the state level in Florida affect me directly. The senate election was more important that the governor election because it give republicans control of both the House and the Senate, which gives republicans much more power and now the President is going to have to actually start making decisions on things rather than ideas being stuck in congress.
8. I think the republicans will start presenting lots of new legislation to the President to make progress. If the republicans play their cards right, the republicans she continue to have a momentous victory. The pundits are saying that people want to see new blood and change in the people who run for president, which means it’s anyone’s game for the 2016 Presidential election.
It really shocked me that Mitch McConnell won the Kentucky election AGAIN. I was really thinking that the people of Kentucky would like some change with Alison Grimes.
Wyoming had the biggest landslide victory (Mike Enzi(R) winning with 72.29%.) I think this is due to the fact that Wyoming isn't really diverse, so pretty much everybody has the same conservative values.
Virginia was the closest race (49.1% for Warner (D) and 48.5% for Gillespie (R). This is due to both parties having a good voter turnout and because both candidates were very likable.
Winning Democrats distanced themselves from Obama, but still had their liberal beliefs. Winning Republicans had good publicity because a lot of them were incumbents.
Rick Scott won the governor race. Political pundits say that is was a close race and pretty much anyone could have won. Negative ads, and the way Scott pointed out how he "improved" the economy of Florida could have played a part in his winning.
Some websites have videos that analyze the senate races. Others have graphs and charts that show the differences of the opponents. NPR just has an article that is straight to the point of the information about the election.
Medical marijuana was an important bill that was trying to be passed. It didn't pass because I don’t think all voters are really ready for medical marijuana because they really don't understand the bill too much, so conservatives just say no. Also because there were so many loopholes in the bill and the way it would work.
Yes it can help the medically ill to lessen pains. I think that it is specific to the state because in some states it has been passed but here in FL it has not been passed yet probably because we are so conservative.
I think the Florida governor race was the most important because it will determine how I live really since I live here. Governor races are more important because they directly affect the state more. With the senate, you also need to the HOR and the president’s signature to really make any major changes.
I think that it will carry out into 2016 because it is still fresh, but it also depends on whether we have a republican president or democratic president.
-Ahmani Joseph, 2:40 in the morning... #procrastination
1. The North Carolina senate race was the most surprising. I thought that Kay Hagan would win because of a strong incumbent advantage.
2. The biggest landslide was in Wyoming. This is because Wyoming is an extremely republican state. The closest race was in Virginia. This is because many democrats in the state were becoming unhappy with, and moving away from, other members of the party.
3. The republicans used the fact that the democrats were in control now and nothing was getting done. The democrats tried to distance themselves from other democrats, like Obama.
4. Rick Scott won. His close win is attributed to his higher success as governor. Voter turnout played a big part, as many democratic regions, had very low voter turnout.
5. FOX News focuses more on the fact that the republicans won, elaborating on, and celebrating, these victories. Where as CNN and NPR are more analytical in their coverage, discussing more the possible effects of the republican victory.
6. Amendment 2 in Florida, the legalization of medicinal marijuana, did not pass. It was voted yes at 57% but needed 60% to pass. This is likely due to low voter turnout, as many demographic groups that generally support it did not have very high voter turnout.
7. I believe that the florida gubernatorial race was the most important. It was a very close race in a swing state that has a large population. I think that the senate elections are more important, because of the fact that the senate makes decisions that effect the entire nation, whereas the governor's decision only effects one state.
8. With the republicans controlling both houses of congress, there will be more legislation that makes it through congress. This does not necessarily increase the amount of laws past, however, as the president is democratic. If the republicans can carry their momentum into 2016, they have a good chance at controlling a large part of the government and would have the ability to pass large amounts of legislation in their favor.
-Dalton Unsen, Period 1B
1. The senate race that was most surprising was the North Carolina senate race and that was between Kay Haagan and Tom Tillis, I thought there was a strong chance Haagan would win and not the incumbent Tillis, due to the article we read in class.
2. The senate race with the biggest landslide victory was the senate race in Wyoming 72% Mike Enzin(incumbent) and Charlie Hardy 18% the reason why I belive was a huge landslide victory due to the fact that Wyoming is a strong republican state. And the closest race was in Virginia between Ed Gillespie and Mark Warner (incumbent) there was a small difference and The incumbent won.
3. The style that has been working for the republicans is stating how the democrats are in office and essentially they're not getting a whole lot done where as in the democrats case, as we have discussed in class, they've been using the strategy of trying to get away from Obama, stating that they're not like that and they want to get stuff done.
4. The individual that won the florida Govenor race was Rick Scott (R & incumbent) 48% vs. his opponent Charlie Crist (former Florida Govenor and Democrat) the political pundits are saying how close of a race it was, difference of 1%.
5. NPR is taking a more mild approach only stating the facts and not appearing to be bias towards any side republican or democrat where was FOX is evidently siding Republican looking at their voter turnout.
6. One that was a controversial amendment (the one I'm most familiar with) was Amendment 2 in Florida, the reason why I believe it didn't pass due to low voter turnout, it only reached 57% when it needed to reach 60% in order to pass. Another reason why I beleve it didn't pass was due to political demographics.
7. The most gubernational race was Florida, mostly because Florida is a swing state and that the race was extremely close.
8. Republicans have a strong chance of controlling the momentum for 2016
1. Louisiana’s results were most surprising to me because they were very close!
2. Wyoming has the biggest landslide victory. Wyoming is predominantly Republican and Democrats haven’t held a seat in the Senate since 1976. Virginia was the closest with a .5% difference.
3. Winning Republicans voiced their opposing views on Obamacare and winning Democrats tried to keep their liberal views but still distance themselves from Obama as well.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. Political pundits say that negative ads and emphasis on Florida’s economic change helped him win.
5. FOX news shows their excitement about the Republicans win of the House and Senate. CNN objectively analyzes the results of the election. MSNBC has an article on the Republican victories, but they do acknowledge that the Democrats won the debate.
6. The legalization of marijuana didn’t get passed do to the lack of votes. I feel that it lacked so many votes because there have been negative connotations to marijuana for years and the abundant amount of positive uses have recently been highlighted right before the election. Many people do not pay attention to it and automatically believe it’s no god for the state.
7. The Florida race was definitely the most important in my opinion because it affects me and my peers directly. For example, Bright Futures is a large factor in this case. Governor races are more important to me because they can directly affect the state more. Senators, need the HOR plus the president’s signature.
8. I predict that Congress’ progression will maintain at the same rate because even though it is controlled by Republicans and the President is Democrat, our President still has to do what he can to make changes, he will not just remain stagnant just to be stubborn. If this continues, Republicans will win 2016’s election.
1. I found Mitch McConnell's re-election to be the most surprising race result. Although most people were attempting to separate themselves from the democratic party, he was held responsible for the Government shutdown to a large degree, and I thought that was going to be enough to get him out of office.
2. Wyoming had the largest landslide victory, which wasn't very surprising, as the state has been historically republican, and the political climate is currently leaning towards favoring republicans anyway. The closest race was in Virginia, because Virginia is historically Democratic, but due to the changing of powers, they received less of a Democratic turnout than they usually do.
3. The winning republicans tried their hardest to re-brand themselves, in order to look like a younger, more youth friendly party. They embraced candidates who weren't among the traditional demographics they usually had. On the other end, successful democrats attacked Obama and democratic policy, trying to distance themselves from their party and their party image.
4. Scott won the Florida Governor's race, in a very close contest. Pundits have said that Scott did a good job of painting Crist as someone who did damage to the economy through his negative attack ads, as well as the very low voter turnout in many areas that caused Scott to get the win.
5. I read an article from the New York Times, Fox News, and CNN, and I noticed there was a difference between the focuses of the articles. CNN focused half of their article on what the republican's did correct and what the democrats needed to fix, Fox News spent their whole article talking about the shortcomings and failures of the democratic party, and the New York Times wrote the whole article about the "grip the republican party now has on the senate." The latter two articles were clearly and disgustingly biased.
6. There were two amendments up in Washington, one with the headline restricting gun rights, and another with the headline background checks for guns. The former didn't pass, while the latter did. This showed why this topic struggles so mightily in partisan politics, due to wording bias.
7. I feel that the Gubernatorial elections are more important than the senator races because the governors are able to operate more freely than the senators are. While senators often get caught in debate, Governors can operate much more swiftly than the Senate can.
8. I feel that the Republican party is going to win the White House in 2016, but that they are not going to build a dynasty around this. The party in power shifts constantly, and I feel the democrats will win the White House back in 2020.
1. The kentucky race shocked me because i thought the people of kentucky wouldve wanted a fresh start and a new face to represent them, but they still went with Mitch McConnell. Also the race appeared to be very close.
2. The biggest landslide was with Wyoming. Possibly because Wyoming already has a set demographic.
3. The republicans started to adapt more liberal or democratic ideas, and the democrats distanced themselves from obama.
4. Rick Scott won the governor's race. It was a close race between the two because they both posed good qualities in their campaign. Scott's helping bring the economy back up could have possibly aided in his win over Crist.
5. Fox news shows the republican side of the senate race, while NPR takes an analytic unbiased standpoint.
6. The ballot about medical marijuana did not win in Florida because of the way it may have been worded on the ballot. I believe this could be misleading on all ballots.
7. I think Florida had the most gubernatorial race because it will effect myself directly, and it will continually effect me as long as I live in florida.
8. I think this momentum will carry into 2016 for the republicans.
1.The senate race that was the most surprising for me was the North Carolina Senate Race because this was one of the few races where an incumbent lost. Also, the race was one that gained much publicity and many predicted that Kay Hagan would win by a landslide, but instead, the opposite occurred. 2.The race that was the biggest landslide victory was in Wyoming with the winner receiving 72.3% of the votes, and the runner up winning 17.6%. The landslide victory may have been due to the fact that the victor was an incumbent and therefore people were familiar with him or her. They may have also enjoyed how they worked previous years, so the incumbent’s support may have only gone up. Also, Wyoming is a Red State. 3.Beginning with the Republicans, a strategy that helped them win was having support from their party members. For example, in the unexpected win for Thom Tillis vs. Kay Hagan, numerous predictions that the race was Kagan’s were wrong. One of the main problems was that only 44% of registered voters came and also, as one website describes, “There was just a very healthy turnout for Republicans and lackluster turnout for Democrats,” (http://www.charlotteobserver.com) As for the Democrats, a strategy that won them over was their ability to portray their Republican opponents as out of touch to the constituents. 4.Rick Scott won the Florida govenor’s race. Political pundits are saying that he won by only a slim margin and that his negative ads towards Crist was his saving grace.The advertisements used made this particular race the most gubernatorial contest in 2014.5.NPR’s website mainly discusses how the GOP won the senate and did a detailed analysis of the major winners. They also focused on the major wins in North Carolina, Iowa, Arkansas, and Colorado. The NY Times does not give as much commentary but has pages with charts and graphs explaining what occurred. I feel that CNN’s site was the most neutral. On a webpage predicting the outcomes, they explained how the Democrats may lose what they have had control over for 8 years, and how they are at a disadvantage in many states. Also, the site mentions skepticism towards Republican incumbents 6. A controversial amendment on the ballot for Florida was Amendment 2. I think that this bill did not pass simply because it is radical in that the issues at hand are so progressive! In my opinion, the issue at hand is not entirely focused on one’s rights but instead on how far the people of our state can cross the line in proclaiming that an issue that was once deemed inappropriate is now acceptable. I mean think about it; “Say no to drugs” is a statement that many parents have taught their kids because their parents told them that when they were a kid and so on. I’m not saying that marijuana does not have its benefits (when it comes down to medicinal uses), however, I am saying that if the bill were passed, people would abuse its power. They already are doing so right now under cover, so legalizing it would only add fuel to the fire.7.I think that Florida’s race was the most important gubernatorial race because it was the only one that would affect me directly.America is changing, as many Republicans are noticing, and as a result, they must become more liberal on certain issues to keep a tight hold on their constituents. One source called Florida a purple state and hopes that Republican Scott can hang. I think that the Senate elections are more important than the governor elections because they are on a national level. With that said, I think that it is more important to focus on sending the best representation of Floridians to DC than focusing on the Florida governors.8.I think that the trend for Republicans gaining control will continue over the next two years. As we read in class, many Republicans are redefining what it means to be conservative. As a result, Americans may become more welcoming to this party image since the party image of our President is causing many to reject the views of the Democrats. NPR suggests that for the year 2016, Democrats still have a chance.
1. The North Carolina senate race between Tillis and Hagan was the most surprising. Hagan seemed like she was the more popular candidate, and she was also the incumbent, but Tillis still managed to pull out a victory.
2. The largest margin of victory was the Wyoming race between Enzi and Harding. Harding defeated Enzy with 72.3% of the vote as compared to 17.6%. Wyoming seems to be a heavily Republican state. The closest race was in Louisiana where there was a runoff vote, mostly because the Republican voters had Cassidy and two conservative challengers.
3. The Republicans primarily distanced themselves from Obama while linking the Democrats with him. The democrats focused on getting a greater voter turnout because the number of Democratic voters is greater than the number of Republican voters.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor race. Pundits are saying that he barely won, and that the negative ads helped him win. There was low voter turnout in South Florida, which is primarily Democratic and that hurt Crist.
5. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox show the election results. Fox seems more celebratory about the results, while MSNBC only seems to give the facts of the elections. CNN acknowledges a Republican victory.
6. Amendment two didn't pass, but it will likely pass in the future when the younger generation is able to vote. Even without the younger generation, it was extremely close to reaching the 60% necessary to pass.
7. The Florida race, because I live in Florida so it affects me the most but also because it has a relatively larger population and is a swing state so what happens in Florida can influence what happens in other states. I think the Senate and governor races are equally important for their own reasons. The Senate because their work affects the entire nation, while the governor because they have a more direct influence over their states.
8. I don't think much will happen over the next two years as there is a Democratic president and a Republican congress, so there will be gridlock. This election likely won't have too much influence on the 2016 election, but what happens in the time period between the two will be what has the biggest effect. The media doesn't see much happening the next two years, and sees Obama as a lame duck for the rest of his term.
1.) The senate race in North Carolina was most surprising because the incumbent didn't win even though he seemed to be in higher favor.
2.)Wyoming had the largest landslide because Mike Enzi, the republican, won with a whopping 72.29%, this state easily could've voted this way because of the lack of diversity and the obvious position on gun control and free rights. Virginia was the closest race with 48.5% voting for Gillespie and 49.1% voting for Warner.
3.) Winning republicans really distanced themselves from Obama whole winning democrats had much stronger advertisement and campaigns.
4.) Rick Scott won the Florida senate race because of his use of his mentions on the political pundits saying Florida's economic turn arounds were for the better. Even though Scott won the race was well fought.
5.) Fox, being a republican news station shows more graphs and politics pertaining positively towards the republicans. It seems as though both CNN and NPR both showed graphs as well and both admitted to the republicans domination in taking over congress.
6.) The most controversial amendment on the ballot was easily the legalization of marijuana. We needed 60% of the votes for the state of Florida and we received 58% of the votes needed therefore the amendment didn't get passed. Mostly making up the 58% of voters who said yes are teenagers and young adults who want it for recreational usage, the 42% of voters who voted to not legalize marijuana are probably the elderly people who are more stuck in there ways.
7.) The Florida gubernational race was the most important because it dictates what goes on in our life's, especially with us going to college soon, it can effect tuition rates and loans. This race was well followed because it was a close race because senators have a lot of influence over nationwide policy.
8.)I think the controversy will be high when having a democratic president and republican congress but it seems as though the republican congress are taking matters into there own hands to clean up all the bills left behind by the democrats so maybe they will sweep the next presidential election in hope to clean out our national deficit. Political pundits say that the next president will most likely be republican and that the swing states are going to vote more conservatively in the upcoming election.
P.s this is Kelsey Doering 4A
1. The most surprising senate race to me was Louisiana, when Mary Landrieu sides with the Republican Party over the oil pipeline running into Louisiana.
2. The biggest senate race was Wyoming. The reason being that Mike E. won with about 72% of votes due to Wyoming being it’s a republican state, and the democratic challenger Hardy would never had a chance. The closest senate race was Louisiana because of Mary Landrieu and Bill Cassidy having a runoff race with original votes casted about 41%-42% for both candidates.
3. Republicans made known statements of their democratic opponents associated with Obama, while winning democratic candidates separated themselves from Obama and focused more on voter turnouts.
4. Rick Scott on the Florida governor’s race. The candidates were very close together during the election. A factor that played an important role was voter turnout and ads show casings each candidate.
5. Fox senate race had dots representing the colors and states. On the website it had more images and graphics than the other 2 websites. The faces and results for the states were there, but at the end of the website there was little writing to describe took place. While CNN’s senate race had a map with the color of the outcome of the race and the percentages of who got more votes in certain states. The NY Times had more statistics on their website, with a percentage chart, map, graphs, and etc. throughout their website. There was also information describing each data recorded and how it shows the outcome of the senate race for each state.
6. I personally think that Legalizing Marijuana would not pass because of a lot of conservative views of drug use among religious groups and elderly people in Florida. I believe that this is a specific reason to the state because state like Colorado has already legalized it and Florida hasn’t yet.
7. The most important gubernatorial race was Florida’s race because it was has race for governor’s position between Charlie Christ and Rick Scott. The governor’s race is less important because the senate has more influences in the US government over different states while governor’s position is just for that decision of that state.
8. For the next 2 years I would think that the republicans will not get anything done since the republicans are the majority in the senate. The momentum might be carried over depending on the new president’s party either democrat or republican.
1)The fact that Thom Tillis was able to defeat Key Hagan surprised me since I thought that she was for sure going to retain her seat in the Senate. She was moving away from being associated with Obama which should've helped her.
2) Wyoming's Senate race was a huge landslide since the incumbent won, Wyoming is primarily a red state, and Enzi won in every county and by big numbers. North Carolina was the closest since both candidates were strongly favored but the incumbent lost due to being a Democrat at a unfavorable time.
3)Attacking Obama's administration and using it against Democrats worked for Republicans. For Democrats, sticking to their policies and representing the constituents worked.
4)Rick Scott won Florida's governor race. They are saying that Scott won due to improving the Republican turnout operation. Turnout played a huge role. Negative aspects about the other worked too.
5) The analysis of the results is critical depending on what bias the news websites have and which way they lean.
6)Medical marijuana didn't pass in Florida because voters and the elderly used their background knowledge about recreational use to vote No. This is an indication of a national trend.
7) The most important race in my opinion was that of Florida's since it affects me the most and since I am a Florida resident. I believe that the Senate elections matter more than the gubernatorial races since they are on a national level and can affect the whole country.
8) For the next 2 years, I don't see much happening and they will probably be really boring. I see everything being gridlocked. Republicans will try to chip away at Obamacare, which Obama won't let happen. I also believe that this Republican momentum will carry over into 2016 since people will want change and take action and provide more change for themselves than Obama could for them. Democrats will have to work hard and do something to increase their popularity. The political pundits are saying that Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Hillary Clinton are 2 very favorable candidates. Having a female President would be cool and different.
Angella Joseph
1. The senate race that was most surprising to me was the Kentucky race because the article that we read in class made me feel as if people were leaning away from McConnell and towards Grimes.
2. The senate race with the biggest landslide victory was Wyoming with Enzi winning 72% and Harding with 18%. This probably because of the dissatisfaction with democrats.The closest race was Louisiana with a 1% difference between the two leading candidates.This is probably because the votes, majority republican, were split with the second major candidate getting 14% of the votes. If all the votes in the Republican side were uniform, they would have won.
3.The strategy that worked for the Republicans was putting the blame on the democrats. I think because a lot of people are unhappy with Obama,they are leaning away from the democratic party. The Republicans reinforcing that they are different helped them with their wins. Winning democrats kind of used the same tactic by separating themselves from the president and had a strong public image already for the most part.
4.Rick Scott beat Crist. Many people such as CBS that it was tainting Crist's image through negative propaganda that allowed for his win. I think that that was a major factor because advertisement almost demonized Crist and I think a lot of people fell susceptible to that.
5.MSNBC, NYTimes, and CNN represent the information differently. The NY Times emphasized the "riding wave of discontent" and shows that this was "trench warfare". So, a little more of dramatics there.CNN highlighted vulnerable incumbents and proceeds to list things. CNBC highlights Obama.
6.Medical marijuana legalization is a controversy on the ballot. I think that it didn't pass because a lot of people disagree with its use and fearful of the effects.They are more aware of the dangers than the benefits. I think its more specific to the state because Florida has a lot of elderly who disagree with its use.
7. The most important race was the senate election because now that both houses are of the same party, more legislation and action should be taken. I think the governor elections was more of a "pick the lesser of two evils" for most people.
8.I think the next two years will show a trend toward more republican voting. I think that this trend will continue into 2016 unless public opinion on Obama suddenly changes. Political pundits show that many of the swing states will probably swing republican because of the discontentment with the democratic party.
1.I was mostly surprised by North Carolina's senate race because Haagan, an incumbent, did not win. Based on our studies, we've learned that this doesn' happen often and it was just surprising to actually see it happen.
2. The biggest landslide victory was definitely Wyoming. Considering the fact that Wyoming is predominantly Republican and the fact that Democrats haven’t held a seat in the Senate since 1976, it's safe to assume that this is why. Additionally, Virginia was the closest.
3. Winning Republicans mainly focused their oppositions on Obama, while winning Democrats focussed on keeping their Democratic voters. For examle, Republicans shared their negative views on Obamacare and Democrats tried to keep their liberal views while distancing themselves from Obama.
4. Rick Scott won the Florida governor's race. Political pundits say that an emphasis on Florida’s economic change helped him win. This was a very close race.
5. FOX shows excitement about the Republicans' win. CNN analyzes the results of the election somewhat objectively, and MSNBC has an article on the Republican victories; however, they do acknowledge that the Democrats won the debate.
6. Legalizing marijuana didn’t get passed due to the lack of votes. There are so many negative connotations towards marijuana and for years people have been ignorant to the various amount of beneficial, medicinal uses the herb has.
7. The Florida race was the most important because it affects me directly. Bright Futures is an important matter. Governor races are more important because they directly affect the state.
8. Congress’ progression will be stagnant. Despite the fact that Congress is controlled by Republicans and the President is Democrat, Obama is still our Chief Executor and he still has to do what he can to make changes. I don't believe he'll just remain stagnant in response to the circumstances. If this continues, Republicans will win 2016’s elections
1.The North Carolina senate race that was most surprising to me because Hagan te Incumbent should have won since he was more popular
but he didn't.
2. The biggest landslide victory to me was The Wyoming between enzi and hardi because hardey won by a lot more then enzi. I think
this is because the republican had a bigger advantage since the people were unhappy wit the Democratic decisions. I think
that the closet race had to have been Alabama because he dominated the other canadite.
3. The strategy that work for winning republicans was that they talked down about Democrats being along side Obama
. While the Democrats weren't so close to Obama they also ignored his policies.
4.Rick Scott won the FL government race. The political pundits are saying that the race was very close. I think the
factor that played the biggest role was that fl is more republican.
5.Fox news sorts include Republican win in. NPR has an article that talks about the victory and loss.
the results. MSNBC tells us about how Obama presidency will be like now that they will win.
6.The marijuana case was not passed in Florida because I think there are more elderly people that retire here so they are
most likely not going to vote for it. Whereas, they needed 60% of the votes and they didn't get enough.
7. The most important gubernational race in my opinion was Florida's because it has he ability to change the states. Also,
I think that the governors races matter more since they can directly affect one state rather the whole country.
8. I believe that people will start to not like Obama since he won't do anything to help out politically. He will veto
almost every bill that gets put on his desk. Whereas, the republicans will start to improve since Obama will probably no
be liked within the next two years.
1) I found the Kansas election to be the most surprising to me because not only was there no Democratic party campaigning, but it was actually a pretty close race between the Republicans and the Independent party.
2) I believe Wyoming was the biggest landslide victory because it had the largest difference in percentage of votes: Democrats having 18%, Republicans with 72%, and the independent party with 8%. I think the closest election was Virginia: with the Democrats having 49%, the Republicans having 48%, and the independent party having 2%.
3) Many Democrats denounced their association to Obama. Republicans stayed true to their traditional beliefs.
4) Rick Scott. They are saying that there was a lot of money poured into negative advertising about Charlie Crist. I believe that all the negative advertising is what played the biggest role in this election because it made Crist look like such a bad person politician that few people wanted to vote for him.
5) CBSN, while quite opinionated, is short and to the point. CNN was very drug out and opinionated, and seemed to have a slight siding with Charlie Crist. FOX was extremely biased in favor of Charlie Crist and making him seem like the better candidate.
6) The use of Marijuana for certain medical conditions: I think it didn't pass because the majority of people in Florida are against the use of marijuana for any purpose. I think it could be an indicator of a national trend because most states have not passed anything to attempt to legalize marijuana.
7) I think that governor races matter less because they are on a much smaller scale than the senate and are local governments. In my opinion Florida is the most important gubernatorial race because the election for Florida's governor directly effects us as Floridians.
8) I believe that in the next two years this trend towards republicans will continue and that the next president will be a republican. I think the democrat support will shrink down some more and will start to grow back to size in additional few years.
1- I was most shocked at the turnout of the North Carolina election mostly because Hagan seemed to be more popular throughout the season due to his incumbency.
2- Wyoming had the biggest landslide when it came to the election. Mike Enzi's distinct win can likely be contributed to the issue of gun rights and a lack of demographic diversity which led to a lack of diversity in opinions on the subject.
3- Both parties utilized strategies which did not tie them directly to Obama; however, the republicans were more extreme as they blatantly reverted concepts related to Obama and reversed them entirely.
4- Rick Scott won in the very close Florida governor race. Both Charlie Christ and Rick Scott had large support groups but Scott pulled through in the end. Because both candidate's had so many supporters, either election would have had a major impact.
5- The FOX news source displays a distinct favoring of the Republicans holding the House and Senate. CNN and NPR display a more middle ground unbiased viewpoint which mainly discussed the statistics of the election.
6- One of the most controversial amendments was the legal use of marijuana in Florida. The amendment did receive a plethora of support but fell short several percentages from passing. This can likely be attributed to the demographic profile of the Florida voter population which is heavy on senior-citizen aged voters who have traditional views.
7- I believe the Florida gubernatorial race was the most significant because it affects my daily life in a direct manner. Because the race was so close between two candidates, the effects were great so the decision had to be of the best candidate.
8- I believe that there will be a sharp movement in the direction of republican ideology because the American population feels as if the entire Democratic party is at fault for the lack of progress that Obama has brought to the country.
Post a Comment