Does a big turnout at the polls now favor Republicans?

[WI_DEM]

I'm not saying it does or doesn't because I don't know. I'd like to hear your opinion. For years the belief was that if voters turnout it favors the Democrats. Well, even with the usual GOP tricks to steal the election it does appear that this election saw the biggest turnout since 1968. But Bush still "won" by 3.5 million in the popular vote. Kerry got some five million plus more votes than Gore, but Bush got about 9 million more votes than he did in 2000.

Does a smaller turnout now favor Dems who can deliver their targeted voters more than a big turnout in this day and age when party affiliation is no longer in vogue? For instance, in '68 and '60 when over 60% of Registered voters did turnout the Democrats had a clear edge in registration. Now the two parties are near parity in overall registration and truth be told the Reps may actually have the edge when you consider that in the south there are more registered Dems than Republicans but many of them vote Republican in presidential elections (and beginning to vote Republican in other elections too) and are just too lazy to change their party ID.

[leftofthedial]

1. as long as there is electronic voting

all possible forms of turnout favor repukes.

[Skittles]

2. BINGO

I don't believe for a second that so many stupid people could think Bush is doing such a great job it brought them to the voting booth this time but not last time. BULLSHIT.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Yup! High turnout, low turnout, it's all good!

[NoPasaran]

4. Not necessarily

We had a big turnout in Austin and WE KICKED THEOR ASSES!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. Travis Co. went blue?

[NoPasaran]

6. You bet!

Kerry---56%

[MO_Dem]

7. Where I live

used to be a "swing" area, went for Clinton both times. But, in 2002 and 2004, there was a big increase in repig voters (punch cards until next election). There's a church on every corner, almost, so they're doing something in those churches to get out people who didn't vote before.

[AntiCoup2K4]

8. Republicans could get a 2% turnout and still win

As long as Diebold is still being used.

[Awsi Dooger]

9. The problems are party identification and loyalty

The percentage of turnout really doesn't matter if both sides have equal representation -- it was 37 -37 in party ID this year -- yet GOP voters crossover to our candidate 3-5% less than our voters vote for the Republican.

As 9/11 gets further away and the GOP overreaches and errs, we have a chance to re-establish a party ID lead. Obviously we need to make inroads in rural areas. That should be a strategic focus immediately.