But these record-breaking numbers can and should be scrutinized. Let's start with the overall numbers. When all was said and done, Florida had a voter turnout percentage of 74% compared to a national average of 58%. At a time when voter turnout was at a national 20-year low and 90 million eligible Americans did not vote, Florida managed to somehow increase its voter participation by 12% from 2012. The argument can be made that Florida received more national attention from both candidates and their surrogates and thus their voters were more engaged. And yet, Florida has remained a crucial swing state since 2000 repeatedly garnering national attention for the closeness of its national elections. The year 2016 was no different, and yet turnout dramatically increased throughout the state.
Even more confounding is the county breakdown from 2016 and 2012. By analyzing these results side-by-side, some interesting conclusions can be reached. First off, we can see how exactly both Democrats and Republicans increased voter turnout. Democrats focused largely on urban areas and because of that, they saw increases in 26 counties compared to 41 counties where they saw a decline from 2012. Of these 26 counties, the most significant gains were in Miami-Dade County (+82,230), Orange County (+55,352) Broward County (+39,526), Palm Beach County (+21,993) and Hillsborough County (+20,275). Of the 41 counties where Democratic Party lost support the most significant losses were Pasco County (-8,150), Hernando County (-5,973), Volusia County (-5,923), Pinellas County (-5,639) and Marion County (-4,865).
On the flip side, Republicans saw statewide gains in all but 5 counties from 2012 to 2016. Their most significant gains were in Lee County (+37,029), Pasco County (+29,608), Polk County (+25,650), Pinellas County (+25,554), and Volusia County (+25,290). The only counties where they saw a decrease in voter turnout were Alachua County (-2,181), Leon County (-2,029), Duval County (-1,492), Seminole County (-674) and Escambia County (-301). Of the 6 counties in Florida that had at least an 80% turnout rate (Baker, Collier, Franklin, Jefferson, St. Johns, and Sumter) Donald Trump won all 6 of them. Overall, Donald Trump won 59 out of 67 counties in the state with his only losses being in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Alachua, Gadsden, and Leon.
In short, the Trump campaign had fewer field offices, fewer organizers, fewer volunteers, they did not expand the electorate, and they aired far fewer ads and the end result for all of this was a massive voter turnout for a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, candidate who ran the most deceitful and divisive campaign in American political history.
I, for one, am not buying it.
I'm not buying the fact that 440,000 Republicans will be more inspired by Donald Trump than Mitt Romney. I'm not buying that Republicans could get out the vote in areas like Lee County, Pasco County, Polk County, Pinellas County, and Volusia County with a depleted volunteer base. I'm not buying the fact that Eisenhower Republicans all coalesced around Donald Trump rather than crossing over to vote for Hillary Clinton. I'm not buying the fact that low-information voters were unswayed by the abundance of Hillary Clinton ads. And I'm not buying the fact that Donald Trump's campaign added nearly 22,000 voters in Palm Beach County from 2012 to 2016 in an area where I personally witnessed zero voter registration efforts, zero canvassing, and zero volunteers in the entire five months that I was on the campaign trail in the region.
Campaigns are won and lost at the grassroots level. Never in our nation's history have we had a candidate in Donald Trump simply galvanize millions of people without even trying. Even with his celebrity status, the fact that hundreds of thousands of Republican voters came out of the Florida woodwork to vote for him and that these voters were simply missed by every single poll and polling outlet seems not only impractical but also impossible. The results of Florida's election need to be analyzed and broken down to answer these questions. This is not a partisan issue, but rather is a American issue that cuts to the core of our democracy. These results raise serious questions and the American people deserve answers.
And these answers could alter our country's history.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/11/20/questions-aplenty-breaking-down-the-2016-presidential-vote-in-florida
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