Was George W Bush in 2004 the most hated figure by the opposing party to win

[OSR stands with Israel]

Even Trump this year appealed and in many cases liked by Blue Collar Democrats while Bush in 2004 was fiercely and widely  hated by Democrats across the spectrum and didnt even try to appeal to them and he still won the election.


Like every winner since then was able to appeal to many voters on the other side


FDR- Comparing FDR wins to elections in the Roaring 20s is all that needs to be said

Truman- He was able to win many rural republicans over

Eisenhower- Liked across the spectrum ( both times )

JFK- While didnt get support of any republican group he wasnt hated by all of them

LBJ- Got the support of  moderate Republicans

Nixon- Appealed to Southern Democrats (both times)

Carter- Won many rural republicans over , and religious republicans over

Reagan- Reagan Democrats (both times)

HW Bush- Was able to win many suburban democrats over

Clinton - Won many suburban and young Republicans over, and even many fiscally conservative republicans both times

Bush 2000- Won support of many religious democrats(still were in 2000)

Bush 2004- Hated by every group in the democratic party, won solely as he was as loved by base as hated by opposition and there were more in his base at the time

Obama 2008- won over many anti war republicans

Obama 2012- Ok this is the only one what compares to Bush 2004

Trump 2016- Did well among Blue collar democrats

[SingingAnalyst]

I think Bush got high marks for his handling of the 9/11 attacks, which led many independents and even some conservative Dems to vote for him in 2004.

He also made slight inroads among Jewish voters. In Oak Park, MI, a heavily Jewish (and Black and Arabic) Detroit suburb, Bush's share of the vote jumped from 14% in 2000 to 20% in 2004.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I think Bush got high marks for his handling of the 9/11 attacks, which led many independents and even some conservative Dems to vote for him in 2004.

He also made slight inroads among Jewish voters. In Oak Park, MI, a heavily Jewish (and Black and Arabic) Detroit suburb, Bush's share of the vote jumped from 14% in 2000 to 20% in 2004.

Wasnt Bush approval down to like 49% in 2004 so he no longer was very popular in 2004. Look at the states Bush won too


Trump in 2016, Bush in 2000, and Obama in 2008 all appealed to states which were considered likely dem /gop to their side to win(WI,MI,PA for Trump; WV, TN, AK for Bush; and VA , IN , NC for Obama) .

Bush in 2004 won by holding almost all his states from 2000(which was extremely close to begin with) and flipping basically very close states . All the states Dems won by .5% became much more democratic in that election.

[nclib]

States that trended GOP in 2004 were either 9-11 voters (NY, NJ, CT) though Gore did over perform in NY/NJ/CT, or states with lots of conservative white Dems that have moved even further to the right in subsequent elections (OK, LA, WV, etc.). So 9/11 did bring some Democrats/moderates to Bush.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

2004 and 2016 were the worst for the Dems. Losing to Trump and Dubya.

Because Kerry was swift boated and Clinton was sabatoged by Wikileaks.  All techniques used by GOP to depressed turnout to key constituencies.

And, it was especially depressing, because those voter suppression techniques worked.  Unlike in 2008 and 2012, there were no voter suppression used and turnout was at an all time high and Obama won. 

Clinton got the same amount of votes as Obama, but in WI, PA and MI, the margin of difference votes went to Johnson/Stein that would have went to Sanders or Biden.

[Lord Admirale]

2004 and 2016 were the worst for the Dems. Losing to Trump and Dubya.

Because Kerry was swift boated and Clinton was sabatoged by Wikileaks.  All techniques used by GOP to depressed turnout to key constituencies.

And, it was especially depressing, because those voter suppression techniques worked.  Unlike in 2008 and 2012, there were no voter suppression used and turnout was at an all time high and Obama won. 

Clinton got the same amount of votes as Obama, but in WI, PA and MI, the margin of difference votes went to Johnson/Stein that would have went to Sanders or Biden.

I wouldn't say Wikileaks sabotaged Hillary, they exposed the Bush administration and Assange is pretty liberal. IIRC he supported Sanders, but I'm not sure about that.

[Tekken_Guy]

Most universally hated, yeah, probably.

Most intensely hated? No, that'd be Trump.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Most universally hated, yeah, probably.

Most intensely hated? No, that'd be Trump.

Uh, Lincoln?

I have to imagine that Lincoln was very polarizing back in the day. I mean, the Gettysburg Address was attacked by pro-Democratic newspapers.

[Inmate Trump]

John Kerry was a pretty uninspiring candidate, and Bush's approval was in the 40% range, I believe, which is enough to win especially given the lack of enthusiasm on the other side.

[OSR stands with Israel]

John Kerry was a pretty uninspiring candidate, and Bush's approval was in the 40% range, I believe, which is enough to win especially given the lack of enthusiasm on the other side.

That is not even close to being true , Kerry received 9 million more votes then Al Gore did .Also  if you look at the all time popular vote count after 2004 Kerry was number two all time behind George W Bush in 2004 , both who easily smashed the previous record . Lastly voter turnout % in 2004 was the highest it had been since 1968. It may not have been cause of Kerry, and more cause of anti Bush sentiment what drove dem turnout but thats exactly the point, because if dems could turnout so heavily for such an uninspiring candidate that shows you how much they despised Bush.

[TDAS04]

It was Lincoln.

[OSR stands with Israel]

It was Lincoln.

ok in the past 100 years then

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Kerry should of picked Gephardt instead of Edwards who had no nat'l security experience in the wake of 911.

[hopper]

John Kerry was a pretty uninspiring candidate, and Bush's approval was in the 40% range, I believe, which is enough to win especially given the lack of enthusiasm on the other side.

His approval rating was 50% or 48% on Election Day 2004.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I think they were talking about Hurricane Katrina which was a cyclone, not really a hurricane that hit New Orleans.

But, the Democrats had ample opportunity to beat Dubya.

[NOVA Green]

Sure, within the past 44 years yes (I am not including Trump '16 in the mix for obvious reasons).

I would certainly be prepared to make a strong argument that Nixon in '72 was more hated by what was left or Left of the Democratic Party at that time than W. in '04.

Hell, even Reagan, although he was extremely unpopular among Democrats in '80/'84 was not "hated".

Bush Sr was extremely unpopular in '92, among Dems, but shoot Bill Clinton only won a narrow plurality of the PV and was not popular within his own Party, although Bush Sr was certainly "hated" among elements of the Dem base for various reasons.

I can only speak from my own personal perspective, but after losing my friend Eric in Iraq, I did go through a period of "hatred" towards W. because of the lies and deceit that caused my friend to die.

Obviously this was over 10 years ago, and although I no longer "hate" anyone involved, I still think there are people that served at Senior levels of the W. Administration that need to serve hard time in a Federal Prison for intentionally lying and deceiving the American people about not only the causus belli, but also the many lies and deceptions afterwards.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Sure, within the past 44 years yes (I am not including Trump '16 in the mix for obvious reasons).

I would certainly be prepared to make a strong argument that Nixon in '72 was more hated by what was left or Left of the Democratic Party at that time than W. in '04.

Hell, even Reagan, although he was extremely unpopular among Democrats in '80/'84 was not "hated".

Bush Sr was extremely unpopular in '92, among Dems, but shoot Bill Clinton only won a narrow plurality of the PV and was not popular within his own Party, although Bush Sr was certainly "hated" among elements of the Dem base for various reasons.

I can only speak from my own personal perspective, but after losing my friend Eric in Iraq, I did go through a period of "hatred" towards W. because of the lies and deceit that caused my friend to die.

Obviously this was over 10 years ago, and although I no longer "hate" anyone involved, I still think there are people that served at Senior levels of the W. Administration that need to serve hard time in a Federal Prison for intentionally lying and deceiving the American people about not only the causus belli, but also the many lies and deceptions afterwards.

Well if you look at DU threads from 2004 everything they said about Trump now they said about Bush then and maybe even worse. Also Bush unlike Trump was hated by the entire democratic party while trump was able to win blue collar dems over.

[NOVA Green]

I don't look at DU threads....

So far, Trump hasn't sent us into ground wars overseas based upon lies and deception (Unlike W. and LBJ, as well as Nixon when it came to his "secret plan to end the war".

Sure, when it comes to economic policy I'm an equal opportunity hater when it comes to Democratic and Republican Administrations alike over the past many decades, in terms of selling decent paying Manufacturing jobs down the river, sacrificed upon the sacred altar of "Free Trade"....  Hell, in a relatively Blue Collar and Mfg state like Oregon (Outside of certain parts of Metro PDX that you are quite familiar with).

I do firmly support Obama when it came to economic policies to try to recover our country from the Great Recession, although I think there should have been more $$$ pumped into the economy at that time (Although granted top economic advisers underestimated the extent of the Bush Recession in their own words a few years later).

So, for various reasons I left Trump out of the mix, but I do firmly believe that W. in '04 was definitely much more hated by the Dems in '04, than Obama in '08/'12, W. in '00, Clinton in '92/'96. Bush Sr in '88, Reagan in '80/'84, Carter in '76, based upon your original question.

Awesome to see you challenging the Atlas CW of "Old Skool" being a "robot"/"Computer", and engaging a bit more than average, since I've always seen you as an above average poster, who frequently tends to post in brief one or two sentence comments, most likely bcs you are doing a mix of work and college, and only so much free time with a lot of different areas of interest and expertise.

[MillennialModerate]

I wouldn't say he was the most hated to win. I'm not sure he was THAT hated. He seemed to most to be a decent man with good intentions (even if they often led in bad places) and Presidents in war time efforts usually get a boost

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

I wouldn't say he was the most hated to win. I'm not sure he was THAT hated. He seemed to most to be a decent man with good intentions (even if they often led in bad places) and Presidents in war time efforts usually get a boost

You sound like you are saying that with 10 years of hindsight. My hatred for Bush has died down quite a bit since he left office. But in 2004, I hated that SOB, Cheney was even worse. Bush hatred in 2004, was not some extreme leftist thing, it was mainstream in the Democratic party.

[OSR stands with Israel]

If people think the left hated Trump, they should look at a Bush thread on DU from 2004-2008, or TYT from 06-08 as everything they said about Trump they said about Bush and worse.


What make 2004 so stunning in is that Bush in 04 campaign didnt even run a reach out to parts of the other side campaign (like even trump did with blue collar dems in 2016)  and he still won. 2004 if you look at the results was probably just as divisive a 16 as Bush won the popular vote by 3 million votes , and if Kerry was able to flip 100k votes in Ohio he wins despite losing the popular vote by a worse margin then Trump did.

Imagine how divisive 2004 would have been if social media was as big then as now.

[RINO Tom]

Most universally hated, yeah, probably.

Most intensely hated? No, that'd be Trump.

Uh, Lincoln?

I have to imagine that Lincoln was very polarizing back in the day. I mean, the Gettysburg Address was attacked by pro-Democratic newspapers.

I believe the New York Times was on that not-so-prestigious list, haha.  Anyway, I'd have to agree; even Northern Democrats who opposed slavery seemed to dislike Lincoln.

[nclib]

If people think the left hated Trump, they should look at a Bush thread on DU from 2004-2008, or TYT from 06-08 as everything they said about Trump they said about Bush and worse.

When G. W. Bush was President, the left wouldn't have thought we'd ever get someone worse than him, much less Trump. Had GWB never been president and Trump was Pres. from 2001-2009, Trump would have been bashed on DU/etc. as much or more so than Bush was.

[60+ GOP Seats After 2018 GUARANTEED]

Trump is more hated than Bush BY far.

Someone mentioned The Young Turks, but even Cenk said 2004 doesn't even compare to 2016. A lot of Democrats I know said they felt 100 times worse on November 9, 2016 than November 3, 2004.

One thing about 2004 is that it had a HUGE explosion in the popular vote. Very important election.

Most liberals I know do not think of Trump as merely a Republican/political opponent - but pure evil. The Devil in human form. Hitler reincarnated.

In fact Bush is entering the rehabilitation phase.

[Beet]

Oh yes. George W. Bush was detested by Democrats, Trump isn't even comparable. A lot of Democrats can find points of commonality with Trump like the Syria thing. With Bush? No way. Don't forget Bush launched the Iraq war which has been the defining issue for Democrats for a decade and a half. The war is what made Bush so hated. Recently I've been thinking the Iraq war was even worse than I'd imagined; it may have been the death knell of Western civilization, which I didn't even consider at the time. Heck, I know it doesn't seem this way now, but if Trump doesn't start a major war, words won't be able to express my gratitude.