2020 Presidential Election facts that would blow the minds of politics followers from 1988?

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

List the facts of the Election where Joe Biden finally won the Presidency that would shock people from the year of the Election where he had 1st run for President.

To start: Joe Biden wins nationally while getting completely annihilated in West Virginia.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I’ll actually say Trump becoming president then wouldn’t be as shocking as people think . Keep in mind this was before his bankruptcies and divorces so it would be viewed as a rich guy from New York interested in politics eventually decided to run . You could assume this would be his path in a way


Donald Trump :

Secretary of Commerce : 1993-1997

Governor of New York : 1999-2011

President of The United States: 2017-2021


He lost the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2012 but wins it in 2016

[Sir Mohamed]

- Democrat winning CA by a 30 pt. margin
- Amount of VBM votes
- Loser not conceding the election, his supporters storming the Capitol at certification date
- Nominees are 77 and 74 years of age
- Biden winning by 7 million votes nationwide, but less than 50k away from losing the EC

Not sure whether you'd be surprised in 1988 to learn that the 2020 NPV raw vote is 81 to 74 million votes.

[Liberalrocks]

So much would suprise them its really many options to list.
Some that come to my immediate mind here.

-Barry Goldwater's Arizona voting Democratic.
-Virginia voting Democratic and by the margin that it did.
-Iowa voting Republican by a large margin and that nominee not winning.
-The close Wisconsin margin would proably be a surprise to 1988 voters after that election given that Dukakis carried it solidly and lost nationally to Bush in a landslide.
-West Virginia was already mentioned.
-South Texas trending Republican and the state as a whole within about 5 points due to Democrats posting large margins in the cities.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

New Hampshire voting as far to the left of West Virginia that it did.

And of course Biden winning Virginia and losing West Virginia.

[President Johnson]

In addition to what has already been mentioned: That Bernie Sanders is the Democratic runner-up in a field of over 25 candidates, and that the guy who won the Iowa Caucus was just six years old at the time.

[morgieb]

Biden winning Chester County while losing Fayette.

Biden losing the Mahoning Valley.

Biden winning Georgia through Cobb, North Fulton and Gwinnett.

[Mr. Smith]

Joe Biden actually running and winning in the first place. I think most people would have expected it in 1992 or 1996...2000 tops.

[MR DARK BRANDON]

Joe Biden becoming president

[OSR stands with Israel]

In addition to what has already been mentioned: That Bernie Sanders is the Democratic runner-up in a field of over 25 candidates, and that the guy who won the Iowa Caucus was just six years old at the time.

I mean Jesse Jackson was the runner up in 1988 and I don’t think Bernie in 2020 did any better than Jackson did overall.


Bernie’s performance in 2016 would be far more surprising than his performance in 2020 imo

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

The electoral map alone would blow minds, because the combination of states wouldn't make any sense. Virginia, Georgia, and Arizona would have been solidly Republican states at the time, so to see them blue in a close election would be very weird in itself. Georgia would be especially weird because the rest of the deep south was as Republican as you'd expect, and it's not like Biden's from Georgia either.

As others have mentioned, California was a swing state at the time, if not lean R, so while D California wouldn't have been that crazy to a political observer from 1988, being 25 points to the left of the nation would be unbelievable. Vermont being more Democratic than Mass would also be unexpected.

One underrated leftward swing is Colorado - until Obama flipped it in 2008, CO was a lean Republican state, it certainly would not be expected to vote 9 points to the left of the nation.

The county map, at a first glance, would suggest a GOP win, if not landslide, because there was less geographical polarization at the time. In fact, Dukakis won more counties than Biden. But upon closer inspection, I think you could tell that a realignment happened. For one, the west got a lot more Democratic, and the upper midwest and appalachia got a lot more Republican. But also, the suburbs voting Democratic would blow 1980s minds, because at this time, the suburbs were the core of GOP support. Orange County was synonymous with Republican - to see that OC voted Democrat, let alone to the left of the nation, would be a shocker.

[One Term Floridian]

Rural disintegration just about everywhere for the Democrats, even at the TX border.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

You really don't have to go back to 1988 for it to be completely mind blowing that the Democrat got 30% more votes in Orange, CA than Elliot, KY.

[TDAS04]

Suburban Chicago counties such as DuPage voting so Democratic.

Maybe Vermont being Biden’s best state.

[Joe McCarthy Was Right]

I wasn't around in 1988, but I think very little mentioned in this thread would have been a surprise to someone from 1988. Like Vermont becoming Democrat was sort of forecasted in Emerging Republican Majority by Kevin Phillips. As far as various parts of Southern California, Arizona, and Georgia voting Democrat, people were not unaware that demographic changes were happening at the time, and yet, the white suburbanites there still to this day vote Republican more often than not.

Broward County, Jefferson/Araphoe (CO), and Fairfax County becoming extremely Democrat probably would genuinely be a surprise since I believe they were once viewed as conservative counties, and the primary reason for the shifts were changing ideologies from the white populations there. Then I think the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia metros switching allegiances would be surprising too.

[Matty]

Dukakis doesn’t get enough credit for how well he did in rural America

He probably came within 8 points of outright beating bush among white voters without a degree

[Ferguson97]

A candidate winning without Florida or Ohio

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

A candidate winning without Florida or Ohio

I got curious and looked through past elections, in the 33 presidential elections in which Florida and Ohio have both voted, only two presidential candidates have won without Florida or Ohio - JFK in 1960, and Biden in 2020. I'm sure many on Atlas already knew this, but still, it's pretty crazy that we're living in a time where the Democrats have a realistic path to victory without winning either state.

[StateBoiler]

Joe Biden becoming president

We should sometime do a deep dive into this board's history, way back 14 years ago in early 2008, and gauged Democratic primary followers' thoughts on the likelihood of Joe Biden ever becoming President.

[Pres Mike]

List the facts of the Election where Joe Biden finally won the Presidency that would shock people from the year of the Election where he had 1st run for President.

To start: Joe Biden wins nationally while getting completely annihilated in West Virginia.

How about Biden winning nationally but losing Iowa by 8 points

Dukakis, despite winning only 10 states, still won Iowa by 10 points. Y’all don’t understand how much Iowa hated republicans at the end of the Reagan administration

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

I know that my parents would've been shocked at the trends in the Texas suburbs (particularly Collin County only going R by some five points.  Or Fort Bend going Democratic by 10, for that matter).  

[Liberalrocks]

Dukakis doesn’t get enough credit for how well he did in rural America

He probably came within 8 points of outright beating bush among white voters without a degree

It gets overshadowed by the metrics people use of did the state flip or not, and the final electoral college count being so lopsided. If one looks deeper its obvious how close Montana, South Dakota and even how much tighter Nebraska and Kansas were at the time compared to now. Then when compared against the Reagan 1984 numbers its that much more apparent how those places really tighten on margins.