2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWe don't need another Clinton-fueled 1994 for "Down Ticket Dems"
If people are turning out just to vote against Hillary Clinton, how does THAT help down ticket Democrats ? It doesn't.
We can look to 1994 for some perspective about how the Clinton's net negative approval ratings drive voting:
Not a single Republican incumbent was defeated, while 37 Democratic incumbents were denied reelection. The most prominent casualty was Rep. Thomas Foley of Washington, the first speaker of the House to lose since 1862. The election results underscored not only a shift in party control but an ideological and generational transformation as well. The Republican triumph was seen by many analysts as having been fueled by the angry white male vote, so-called because conservative white men, protesting higher taxes, affirmative action, and gun control and advocating tougher measures on crime, had voted in large numbers for the GOP. More than half of the new House would consist of members with four years of service or less.
...
The Senate reverted to Republican control for only the second time in 40 years. With the defection of Democratic Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama one day after the election, the Republican majority stood at 53 to 47. Republicans won nine seats vacated by retiring senators and defeated Democratic incumbents in Tennessee, where 18-year veteran Jim Sasser lost to Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who had never held elective office, and in Pennsylvania, where Rep. Rick Santorum defeated Harris Wofford.
http://www.britannica.com/topic/1994-midterm-Elections-616578
Sanders helps down ticket Dems by not having the baggage of the Clintons and by appealing to Independents. The Clintons made the GOP into the House and Senate dominating force it has been ever since 1994. We need to roll that back, not create a second wave.
Skinner
(63,645 posts)It happened with Obama. It will happen with Hillary. It would happen with Bernie if he became president.
The one exception for Democrats since World War II was Bill Clinton's second term, and that was a backlash against GOP Impeachment overreach.
SecularMotion
(7,981 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_with_America
There was no mention of gun control.
emulatorloo
(44,131 posts)The GOPer/Baggers always turn out to vote in midterms. Dems not so much.
GreatGazoo
(3,937 posts)Because the Clintons are well known and polarizing, people are coming out in the open primaries to vote against Hillary. The GE will likely be no different.
And agree with you on midterms, the GOP is better at harnessing the anger of their voters in midterm elections.
Yurovsky
(2,064 posts)and any hope of retaking the House for the next 4-8 years.
The more exposure she gets, the worse she does. It has happened in EVERY campaign she's ever run. If she were to win this November, she would have ZERO coat tails and lead to massive Democrat midterm loses and a possible Democratic Armageddon in 2020.
emulatorloo
(44,131 posts)The R's running are lining up behind him are tied to every crazy thing he says.
Most voters in presidential elections are sane. They were not interested in electing Sarah Palin, and they won't be interested in electing or promoting the Republican/Trump Apocalypse.
Of course it will be close though.