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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenators representing less than half the U.S. about to confirm a nominee opposed by most Americans
Senators representing less than half the U.S. are about to confirm a nominee opposed by most Americans
And Kavanaugh was nominated by a president who lost the popular vote and has majority disapproval.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/06/senators-representing-less-than-half-us-are-about-confirm-nominee-opposed-by-most-americans/?utm_term=.85951fd65ddf
Kavanaugh, though, has a distinct honor: He will be the first justice nominated by someone who lost the popular vote, earning his seat on the bench with support from senators representing less than half of the country and whose nomination was opposed by a majority of the country.
Lets walk through it.
Obviously, Trump got almost 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Clinton got about 48 percent of the votes cast for president. Trump got about 46 percent.
But that by itself doesnt tell the whole story. Nearly half of U.S. residents over the age of 18 didnt vote. Of the entire over-18 population, Trump got only about 25 percent of the possible votes. Clinton got about 26 percent.
<<snip>>
Whats more, that same poll found that most Americans didnt want to see him confirmed. More than half, 52 percent, said the Senate should not advance him to the Supreme Court.
<<snip>>
Kavanaugh will join the Supreme Court despite opposition from senators representing more than half the country, despite more than half the country opposing his nomination, despite being viewed unfavorably by nearly half the country and thanks to a president who is viewed with disapproval by more than half the country and who lost the popular vote.
He will join three other justices who, like him, were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote.
meadowlark5
(2,795 posts)And that is the thing that concerns me most. The republicans know how to work it and manipulate it. So we will continue to have representatives of rural people and midwestern people dictating the shape of this country.
I tell this to young people too. Why do you want to sit back and let your grandparents and great grandparents create your future for you? Get out and vote and shape the country the way you want it going forward.
Jersey Devil
(9,874 posts)The Senate was a compromise to let the small states have more power in case it was needed to override anything stupid enacted by the rabble in the House of Representatives, which by the way, originally elected its members from the state legislatures. The whole thing was designed for aristocracy. Yeah, we had no monarch, but we certainly did have a ruling class.
Kilgore
(1,733 posts)Its the system we have. Unless we are willing to put in the work to change it, stop complaining and begin winning elections.