Originally Posted by
jordanft19
Here's what one guy on Quora has to say about this election if it's Clinton vs Trump (Beware shit ton of writing):
270 Electoral votes are required to win. Not polling results. Not popular votes. Not money. Not being insulting and crass. Not walls that everyone's going to love and Mexico will pay for. Not any of the other bullshit Trump supporters toss at you about what supposedly makes their candidate so great.
States and their respective electoral votes must be won.
Obama beat Romney in the last election 332-206 (this is the only score that matters) even though there was only a 3 point difference in the popular vote.
Clinton will undoubtedly win every slam-dunk blue state that Obama won.
Here is a list of the states that, based on current polling and the way the last three elections have gone, are easy wins for Clinton:
The numbers after each state are Electoral Votes, 04 Result, 08 Result, 12 Result
California (55) –(D) 54%-44%, (D) 61%-37%, 37%, (D) 60%-37%
Colorado (9) - (R) 52%-47%, (D) 54%-45%, (D) 51%-46%
Connecticut (7) – (D) 54%-44%, (D) 61%-38%, (D) 58%-41%
Delaware (3) – (D) 53%-46%, (D) 62%-37%, (D) 59%-40%
Florida (29) - (R) 52%-49%, (D) 51%-48%, (D) 50%-49%
Hawaii (4) – (D) 54%-45%, (D) 72%-27%, (D) 71%-28%
Illinois (20) – (D) 55%-45%, (D) 62%-37%, (D) 58%-41%
Iowa (6) - (R) 50%-49%, (D) 54%-44%, (D) 52%-46%
Maine (4) – (D) 54%-45%, (D) 58%-40%, (D) 56%-41%
Maryland (10) – (D) 56%-43%, (D) 62%-37%, (D) 62%-37%
Massachusetts (11) – (D) 62%-37%, (D) 62%-36%, (D) 61%-38%
Michigan (16) – (D) 51%-48%, (D) 57%-41%, (D) 54%-45%
Minnesota (10) – (D) 51%-48%, (D) 54%-44%, (D) 53%-45%
Nevada (6) – (R) 51%-48%, (D) 55%-43%, (D) 52%-46%
New Hampshire (4) - (D) 50%-49%, (D) 54%-45%, (D) 52%-46%
New Mexico (5) – (R) 50%-49%, (D) 57%-42%, (D) 53%-43%
New Jersey (14) – (D) 53%-46%, (D) 57%-42%, (D) 58%-41%
New York (29) – (D) 58%-40%, (D) 63%-36%, (D) 63%-35%
North Carolina (15) - (R) 56%-44%, (D) 50%-49%, (R) 50%-48%
Ohio (18) - (R) 51%-49%, (D) 52%-47%, (D) 51%-48%
Oregon (7) – (D) 52%-47%, (D) 57%-40%, (D) 54%-42%
Pennsylvania (20) - (D) 51%-49%, (D) 55%-44%, (D) 52%-47%
Rhode Island (4) – (D) 59%-39%, (D) 63%-35%, (D) 63%-35%
Vermont (3) – (D) 59%-39%, (D) 68%-30%, (D) 67%-31%
Virginia (13) – (R) 54%-46, (D) 53%-46%, (D) 51%-47%
Washington (12) – (D) 53%-46%, (D) 58%-41%, (D) 57%-41%
Wisconsin (10) - (D) 50%-49%, (D) 56%-42%, (D) 53%-46%
Total Electoral Votes: 353
If you want to convince me that Trump can win the general election against Clinton, you need to show me how Trump takes at least 74 electoral votes-worth of those states away from Clinton. States that have gone Democrat in the last three elections. And that was against a Republican who isn't a polarizing lunatic.
But not only that, you need to convince me that Trump will be able to win all the same states Romney won. You see, what the reality TV circus that is the primary race thus far doesn't tell you is that there are a lot of people like me who have never not voted for a Republican who will not vote for Trump, no matter what.
I have no idea what a Trump presidency would look like. I have no way of knowing. And much of what Trump shows scares me. I don't want someone who's cool with using government power to steal property from private owners to build casino parking lots. I don't want someone who is cool with hiring illegal immigrants. I don't want someone who is cool with punishing newspapers for saying "mean" things about him. I don't want someone who's enough of a moron (or enough of a con artist) to lead the birther conspiracy movement. Not to mention his positions have been all over the place just since Obama took office. Who knows what they'll be tomorrow.
But forget about me, let's look at swing states and how they line up with recent poll numbers.
Again, for each state, Electoral Votes, 04 Result, 08 Result, 12 Result and this time, polling projections:
Alaska (3) – (R) 61%-36%, (R) 59%-38%, (R) 55%-41%, Projected Clinton Win
Arizona (11) - (R) 55%-44%, (R) 54%-45%, (R) 54%-45%, Projected Clinton Win
Georgia (16) - (R) 58%-41%, (R) 52%-47%, (R) 53%-45%, Projected Clinton Win
Indiana (11) - (R) 60%-39%, (D) 50%-49%, (R) 54%-44%, Projected Clinton Win
Louisiana (8) - (R) 57%-42%, (R) 59%-40%, (R) 58%-41%, Projected Trump Win
Mississippi (6) - (R) 60%-40%, (R) 56%-43%, (R) 55%-44%, Projected Clinton Win
Missouri (10) - (R) 53%-46%, (R) 49%-49%, (R) 54%-44%, Projected Clinton Win
South Carolina (9) - (R) 58%-41%, (R) 54%-45%, (R) 55%-44%, Projected Clinton Win
Texas (38) - (R) 61%-38%, (R) 56%-44%, (R) 57%-41%, Projected Trump Win
The seven states in bold and italics are swing states that went Republican the last three elections in a row, but are still projected to go to Clinton this election according to Clinton vs. Trump polling. Indiana voted 60% - 39% to put George W. Bush in office a second term and 54% to 44% against Obama's second term, but polling says that Indiana would give Obama a third term with Hilary Clinton if she's running against Trump.
I count 66 electoral votes that Romney won, but are projected to go to Clinton.
While thinking about Indiana, go back to the numbers for blue states and notice that in just about every one of them, Obama didn't win as big in '12 as he did in '08. Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all closed up to within 5 points of Republican win. That's 95 electoral votes worth of states that someone like Kasich might have a chance of flipping, but those are also 95 electoral votes that are a safe bet for Clinton vs. Trump.
Keep in mind that, according to current polling numbers, Clinton would beat Trump in the popular vote by a much wider margin than Obama beat Romney, so all of this is being generous toward Trump.
If Trump runs against Clinton in November, expect to see a landslide reminiscent of Reagan's win over Mondale.
Projection shows Clinton defeats Donald Trump 419-119 (updated to 358-180) on Electoral College map
Edit:
Comments remind me that I didn't address the effect of further scandal surrounding the email server and/or Benghazi.
First of all, I don't think there'll be much more to learn. At least, nothing more damning than what is already public knowledge. I won't rehash it all here. It's enough to demonstrate that Democrat voters are magnificent wagon circlers, and by November, they'll be even more tired yet another "vast right wing conspiracy." S0, I don't care who she'd be running against, she is not going to lose voters over something like Benghazi. I honestly don't think the typical voter cares.
And we're talking about losing these voters for Trump.
Also:
Some have said that I'm making the same mistake that I and pretty much everyone else made when we predicted there's no way in hell Trump can stay in the race. That was certainly a mistake, but it wasn't the same mistake.
When I was thinking that there's no way Trump's success in the primary race can last, that was me overestimating the collective intelligence of Republican primary voters. Or, maybe you could say I underestimated the number of buffoons. Either way, it was an mistake over the right's capacity to self-destruct.
I don't think I'm making any mistakes about the left. And by the way: for god's sake all you Trumpkins, when you look at the numbers and see evidence that Democrats are voting for Trump in open primary elections, that's not because Trump is winning their hearts and minds. That is an age-old tactical move where Democrats know their primary vote is better spent getting an opponent that's easy to beat than Clinton's inevitable coronation as the Democrat nominee.
I don't think I'm making any mistakes about how steadfast the left will be. If anyone wants to challenge this further, tell me which Democrat-standby demographics she'll pull from. Union labor? The minority vote? Feminists? Profile for me the voter who Democrats have always been able to count on, but who will jump ship and vote for Trump.