Thursday, March 12, 2020
Friday, March 6, 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_and_Pacific_Railway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Pacific_Transportation_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_railroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_railroads_in_North_America
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqr01
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Mexican_Railway
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dft01
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqb11
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Pacific_Transportation_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_railroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_railroads_in_North_America
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqr01
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Mexican_Railway
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dft01
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqb11
From the Washington Monthly: The Youth Vote Emerges as a Problem for the Democrats
Same old problem.
- Click here for the article.
Super Tuesday voting concluded only a few hours ago, but political archeologists are already turning over the rubble. An early narrative focuses on the failure of young voters to turn out. According to the exit polls, youth turnout did not increase in a single Super Tuesday state. In fact, the profile of the electorate skewed much older than in recent primary elections. German Lopez of Vox explains:
Consider Texas: According to NBC News’s exit polls, the Democratic electorate actually skewed older in Tuesday’s primary compared to past primaries. In 2008 and 2016, 13 and 18 percent of the electorate, respectively, was 65 and older. In 2020, it was 24 percent.
Texas is getting older, but not at a rapid enough rate for that increase to be tied solely to state demographic trends. In fact, the share of the population that’s 65 and older is just 12.6 percent. Given Biden’s strength with this group of Texas voters — 46 percent support Biden, while just 16 percent support Sanders — that surge in older voters helps explain Biden’s narrow victory in the state.
Many commentators are questioning how Bernie Sanders expects to sell people on his revolution if he can’t even mobilize the kids to cast their votes. It’s a reasonable question, but Sanders did at least accomplish half of his goal. For example, among California voters age 18-29, Sanders beat Biden by a staggering 72 percent to 5 percent. In Texas, the margin was 65 percent to 11 percent.
So, Sanders really does have the overwhelming support of young voters and it’s undeniable that he’s produced some excitement among them, but somewhere this formula broke down.
- Click here for the article.
Super Tuesday voting concluded only a few hours ago, but political archeologists are already turning over the rubble. An early narrative focuses on the failure of young voters to turn out. According to the exit polls, youth turnout did not increase in a single Super Tuesday state. In fact, the profile of the electorate skewed much older than in recent primary elections. German Lopez of Vox explains:
Consider Texas: According to NBC News’s exit polls, the Democratic electorate actually skewed older in Tuesday’s primary compared to past primaries. In 2008 and 2016, 13 and 18 percent of the electorate, respectively, was 65 and older. In 2020, it was 24 percent.
Texas is getting older, but not at a rapid enough rate for that increase to be tied solely to state demographic trends. In fact, the share of the population that’s 65 and older is just 12.6 percent. Given Biden’s strength with this group of Texas voters — 46 percent support Biden, while just 16 percent support Sanders — that surge in older voters helps explain Biden’s narrow victory in the state.
Many commentators are questioning how Bernie Sanders expects to sell people on his revolution if he can’t even mobilize the kids to cast their votes. It’s a reasonable question, but Sanders did at least accomplish half of his goal. For example, among California voters age 18-29, Sanders beat Biden by a staggering 72 percent to 5 percent. In Texas, the margin was 65 percent to 11 percent.
So, Sanders really does have the overwhelming support of young voters and it’s undeniable that he’s produced some excitement among them, but somewhere this formula broke down.
From Vox: The Democratic voter surge was very real on Super Tuesday
More on turnout.
- Click here for the article.
The first two states in the Democratic primary elections cast some doubts as to whether voter turnout would increase much in 2020. But after Super Tuesday’s races, Democrats can likely put those doubts behind them.
In most states, voter turnout was significantly higher this year than it was in 2016:
In Alabama, turnout increased from more than 398,000 in 2016 to more than 451,000 in 2020.
In Arkansas, turnout increased from more than 218,000 with all votes counted to over 228,000 with more than 99 percent of precincts reporting.
In North Carolina, turnout increased from more than 1.1 million with all votes counted to more than 1.3 million with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
In Tennessee, turnout went from more than 371,000 to more than 513,000.
In Texas, turnout rose from more than 1.4 million with all votes counted to more than 2.1 million with more than 99 percent of precincts reporting.
In Vermont, turnout increased from nearly 135,000 with all votes counted to more than 157,000 with roughly 89 percent of precincts reporting.
In Virginia, turnout grew from nearly 783,000 to more than 1.3 million.
- Click here for the article.
The first two states in the Democratic primary elections cast some doubts as to whether voter turnout would increase much in 2020. But after Super Tuesday’s races, Democrats can likely put those doubts behind them.
In most states, voter turnout was significantly higher this year than it was in 2016:
In Alabama, turnout increased from more than 398,000 in 2016 to more than 451,000 in 2020.
In Arkansas, turnout increased from more than 218,000 with all votes counted to over 228,000 with more than 99 percent of precincts reporting.
In North Carolina, turnout increased from more than 1.1 million with all votes counted to more than 1.3 million with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
In Tennessee, turnout went from more than 371,000 to more than 513,000.
In Texas, turnout rose from more than 1.4 million with all votes counted to more than 2.1 million with more than 99 percent of precincts reporting.
In Vermont, turnout increased from nearly 135,000 with all votes counted to more than 157,000 with roughly 89 percent of precincts reporting.
In Virginia, turnout grew from nearly 783,000 to more than 1.3 million.
From 538: What We Know About The Voters Who Swung Super Tuesday For Biden
For our look at the composition of the electorate, and voter behavior.
- Click here for the article.
A key part of former Vice President Joe Biden’s success on Super Tuesday was his strong performance among voters who had only made up their minds in the last few days. According to exit poll data, Biden won at least 40 percent — if not more — of the late-deciding vote in every state except Sanders’s home state of Vermont.
But who exactly were these voters? And why did they so overwhelmingly back Biden at the last minute? If we look at the exit poll data we have, there is a lot of variation from state to state, but there are a few key trends from Tuesday:
1. Late deciders, on average, were more moderate.
2. Voters in the Northeast (Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont) and the Midwest (Minnesota) were especially likely to decide late (nearly half did) while voters in some parts of the South and California were more likely to have cast their ballot early (in California, mail-in voting played a huge role in boosting early voting numbers).
3. Biden picked up a lot of support among white voters who decided late.
- Click here for the article.
A key part of former Vice President Joe Biden’s success on Super Tuesday was his strong performance among voters who had only made up their minds in the last few days. According to exit poll data, Biden won at least 40 percent — if not more — of the late-deciding vote in every state except Sanders’s home state of Vermont.
But who exactly were these voters? And why did they so overwhelmingly back Biden at the last minute? If we look at the exit poll data we have, there is a lot of variation from state to state, but there are a few key trends from Tuesday:
1. Late deciders, on average, were more moderate.
2. Voters in the Northeast (Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont) and the Midwest (Minnesota) were especially likely to decide late (nearly half did) while voters in some parts of the South and California were more likely to have cast their ballot early (in California, mail-in voting played a huge role in boosting early voting numbers).
3. Biden picked up a lot of support among white voters who decided late.
From the Texas Tribune: Just a quarter of registered voters in Texas participated in the 2020 presidential primary
For our look at turnout.
- Click here for the article.
For the first time since 2008, more Texans voted in the Democratic presidential primary than in the Republican primary — but just barely.
With all polling places tallied Thursday, Democrats had cast 2,076,046 votes in the pitched contest to take on President Donald Trump in November. Meanwhile, Republicans cast 2,008,385 votes in the presidential contest. Overall, a small majority of votes — 2,071,745 — came during early voting, and 2,012,686 were cast on election day, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office.
More than anything, turnout in presidential primary elections has historically served as a measure of the competitiveness of the race and the heightened enthusiasm that comes with that. That was particularly true this year when the Democratic field narrowed significantly just before Super Tuesday, when Texas’ massive haul of delegates came up for grabs.
Republicans voting in the presidential primary had outpaced Democrats during the state’s early voting period. The opposite was true on election day.
The increased election day turnout was felt on the ground. In Bexar County, election officials said they averaged 6,000 voters an hour in the first three hours of voting.
To no one’s surprise given the state’s depressing turnout history, a small slice of Texas’ total electorate participated in Tuesday’s presidential primary. With 16.2 million Texans registered to vote, just 25.2% cast a ballot in the primary election.
- Click here for the article.
For the first time since 2008, more Texans voted in the Democratic presidential primary than in the Republican primary — but just barely.
With all polling places tallied Thursday, Democrats had cast 2,076,046 votes in the pitched contest to take on President Donald Trump in November. Meanwhile, Republicans cast 2,008,385 votes in the presidential contest. Overall, a small majority of votes — 2,071,745 — came during early voting, and 2,012,686 were cast on election day, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office.
More than anything, turnout in presidential primary elections has historically served as a measure of the competitiveness of the race and the heightened enthusiasm that comes with that. That was particularly true this year when the Democratic field narrowed significantly just before Super Tuesday, when Texas’ massive haul of delegates came up for grabs.
Republicans voting in the presidential primary had outpaced Democrats during the state’s early voting period. The opposite was true on election day.
The increased election day turnout was felt on the ground. In Bexar County, election officials said they averaged 6,000 voters an hour in the first three hours of voting.
To no one’s surprise given the state’s depressing turnout history, a small slice of Texas’ total electorate participated in Tuesday’s presidential primary. With 16.2 million Texans registered to vote, just 25.2% cast a ballot in the primary election.