Senate Democrats Have a Mandate To Oppose Bush
by Chris Bowers, Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 07:54:03 AM EST
Though only a third of the Senate was chosen in 2004, the 2002 election had a similar bias: Republicans won 65% of the available seats with just 50.1% of the popular vote (52% ignoring votes for third parties). In 2000, Democrats won 56% of the available seats with a bare plurality of the popular vote, but this was not enough to balance the results of 2002 and 2004. In all, over the past three Senate elections, Democrats have beaten Republicans by nearly 2 million votes -- yet Republicans hold a 55-seat Senate majority.
In the 100 elections that determined the current make-up of the Senate, 200,723,923 votes were cast. The Democratic candidates in these elections received a combined 96,307,088 votes, for 47.98% of all votes. The Republican candidates received 94,994,293 votes combined, for 47.33% of total votes. (4.69%, or 9,422,542 votes, went to other parties). I removed the 2000 elections in Georgia and Missouri from the Gadflyer totals since those elections were not the most recent for the seat in question. Incidentally, both of those elections were won by Democrats.Democrats won the popular vote for Senate. Thus, we have a mandate to oppose Bush's agenda. In the wake of the bankruptcy bill, the ongoing Social Security struggle, and the coming judicial nominee and energy conflicts, this is a point we all need to be constantly reminded of. Back in January, Jerome wrote more about the national balance of power between the two parties.
Tags: Senate 2006 (all tags)
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