That Word Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

I found one interesting fact in Aaron Blake’s Washington Post article on the selective use of statistics in discussing the 2016 election. As a percentage of the eligible voters the greatest victory of any president in the last century was Lyndon Johnson’s over Barry Goldwater. He got 37.8% of the votes of eligible voters.

The implication of that is that if your notion of presidential legitimacy is based on strict majority rule we haven’t had a legitimate president in the last century.

In Mexico just to cite one example of 22 countries in the world voting is mandatory. Should we go in that direction?

1 comment… add one
  • walt moffett Link

    Wonder if a memory of mandatory voting could be a factor in the low Hispanic turnout?

    Mandatory voting in the US? No, the $Entity given right to make a fool of oneself conflicts. Though, won’t mind elections being rerun if less than 50%+1 of the electorate turned out. Too many local elections being decided by 36% or less

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