The polling showing McAuliffe with a big lead reduced Dem voter turnout

[ZRT2209]

People naturally think that there's no need to vote if their candidate has a big lead.

[CatWoman]

1. where are you getting this from

may I inquire

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

2. Absolutely!! The corporate media played a HUGE part in reducing turnout

among Dems who reasoned...

oh, well McAwful got this in the bag; I'm not too enthused with him anyway. So if he's going to win, I'll just stay home...

[ZRT2209]

3. that's my thought exactly

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. We also hear the opposite, i.e. polls showing the candidate behind depress turnout

The only constant is -- someone complains.

[last1standing]

19. That could be because both being far ahead and far behind reduces the urgency for many voters.

A close election tends to pull out voters who might otherwise stay at home when neither candidate motivates them. I would guess, based on the VA election, that Cuccinelli motivated his supporters while McAuliffe did not, but even that wasn't enough to put him over.

Those who hate and love tend to hate and love strongly. Cuccinelli's appeal to hatred worked by pulling out those who want to hurt others more than they want to help themselves, while McAuliffe's only real appeal was the fact that he isn't Cuccinelli.

In the end, McAuliffe's money overcame Cuccinelli's call to hatred, but only barely. McAuliffe was able to get the word out early that Cuccinelli was a nutjob and that VA needed a rational person for governor. The real good news of that is it means there are many more sane people in VA than hate-filled inbreds and when they found out what Cuccinelli was about they ran from his campaign. The bad news is that rational people didn't like McAuliffe all that much.

[Ron Green]

4. That doesn't say much for Democratic voters.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

6. Yeah right! We're depressed when we're behind, we lazy when we're ahead.

[Heather MC]

9. You never hear

All the people who planned to vote all along voted. Therefore turn out was 100%

[lostincalifornia]

7. If true, they are idiots, especially since what has been going on since 2000. Except I don't buy it

[Vincardog]

8. I think maybe McAuliffe reduced Dem voter turnout.

[Heather MC]

11. Everyone I spoke with said, "I am not excited about Terry but...

I couldn't let Coochie Nelly Win"

[Vincardog]

14. Bingo that is what happens when you run Corporate Democrats instead of real ones.

[Heather MC]

16. I wasn't excited about Terry back in 08 when I first heard

he was positioning himself to Run for Gov of VA.

[onenote]

21. How long have you lived in Virginia?

Apparently not long enough to remember Harris Miller.

(Harris Miller was considered the choice of party activists for the 2006 US Senate nomination. He ran as an unabashed liberal. When Jim Webb jumped into the race, Miller made a point of criticizing Webb as being a former repub and too conservative. Miller lost by around 10,000 out of around 150,000 votes cast, even though he outspent Webb by a wide margin.

And then Webb went on to defeat his repub opponent.

Warner. Kaine. Webb. McAuliffe. What do they have in common? Two things: folks like to tag them as "corporate" Democrats. And they all won in Virginia.

[onenote]

20. I don't think there is any evidence of that

Democrats may not have been enthusiastic about Terry, but turnout was up because a lot of folks wanted to make sure Cooch wasn't elected. In a Democratic stronghold like Fairfax, the turnout was up by more than 30,000 votes. Statewide turnout was up slightly. There is no party registration in Virginia so claiming to know about turnout by party is pretty dicey.

[JI7]

10. no

[Scuba]

12. I'd keep digging for election fraud, 'cause I know the Republicans.

[Cali_Democrat]

13. I was thinking the same thing

How did the turnout last night compare to previous elections?

Anyone know?

[onenote]

22. Slightly higher than the previous two governor's race.

Up in Democratic strongholds like Fairfax County.

[City Lights]

15. If true, it's pathetic. nt

[gopiscrap]

17. shit plus the fucking msm kept on saying all day

light turnout to dampen hopes and expectations

[onenote]

18. You may think you know that, but you don't.

In fact, turnout was up overall and it was particularly up in Northern Virginia, a stronghold for Democratic candidates and the area where the Washington Post's poll showing a 12 percent margin should have,under your assumption, had the greatest impact.

Yet, turnout was up in Fairfax by more than 2 percent over 2009 and nearly 1.5 percent over 2005. In absolute terms, the number of votes cast in Fairfax County last night was 311,288, compared to only 279,606 in 2009 and 277,471 in 2005.

Fairfax County was pretty important in securing victory for McAuliffe. His margin of victory statewide was around 57,000 votes. His margin of victory in Fairfax County was 67,000 votes.

I don't know a single person who decided not to vote because of reports that Terry had it won.