Thursday, March 28, 2024

Do Democrats Gerrymander As Much As Republicans

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Executives of americas large public companies have long played a role in public policy by advising leaders of both parties but those corporate chieftains themselves are far more likely to be republicans than democrats, a new study shows. The republican party has been corrupted by donald trump and his best pals, vladimir putin and moscow mitch. How do we explain this? Conservative democrats, have more in common with republicans than liberal democrats. The us has dealt with the worlds largest number of cases and deaths from the pandemic. The democrats are more supportive of government programmes to support minorities. Learn vocabulary, terms and more with flashcards, games and other study tools. Throughout most of the 20th century, although the republican and democratic parties alternated in the democrats support in the formerly solid south had been eroded during the vast cultural who controlled both chambers in 27 states versus the republican party having total control in only. But we must not forget that both parties share varied ideologies. Supporters of this party are known as democrats. Take the democrat or republican quiz to find out which political party you should join. It said in a statement that once. Start studying democrat vs republican.

Republicans gained two new state trifectas after winning majorities in the new hampshire house and democrats did not concede defeat.

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Gerrymandering And The 2018 Midterm Elections

Gerrymandering was considered by many Democrats to be one of the biggest obstacles they came across during the 2018 U.S. midterm election. In early 2018, both the United States Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that the Republican parties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania had committed unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering in the respective cases Cooper v. Harris and League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the case of Pennsylvania, the map was reconfigured into an evenly split congressional delegation, which gave Democrats in Pennsylvania more congressional representation and subsequently aided the Democrats in flipping the U.S. House of Representatives. In contrast, North Carolina did not reconfigure the districts prior to the midterm elections, which ultimately gave Republicans there an edge during the election. Republicans in North Carolina acquired 50% of the vote, which subsequently garnered them about 77% of the available seats in congress.


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Redistricting And The Census

On paper, redistricting sounds easy. Following the decennial census, states re-draw district lines to reflect the changes in populations over the past ten years. While these districts include elected officials at the state and local level, we are going to focus on the 435 national congressional districts that comprise the House of Representatives.

Each congressional district contains between 523,028 and 1,023,579 residents. Redistricting takes place every ten years after states receive the census data. As populations change, district lines occasionally need to shift to keep relative equilibrium with one another. For example, if over the course of a decade, many people move from one place to another, a state could find itself with one of its members of congress representing significantly more residents than another member. However, population changes are not the only reason a state may choose to change district lines.

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What Is Redistricting And What Is Gerrymandering

Every 10 years, after the US Census, district lines for the House of Representatives and for state legislature chambers are redrawn. In theory, this is mainly to take into account population changes as states grow and shrink, but in practice it serves as an opportunity for parties to seize the political advantage for the next decade, drawing gerrymandered maps that will help them win.

Partisan state legislatures control redistricting in most states, though some have handed the process over to commissions; there are many variations in exactly how things work across the 50 states .


Gerrymandering isnt new, but recent trends in US politics have amped up its national importance. The two parties are increasingly polarized, politics is increasingly nationalized, and voters with firm partisan loyalties are increasingly sorted geographically. More and more, the party that wins a US House seat is determined by how the district is drawn.

The key to partisan gerrymandering is whats known as packing and cracking. The goal is to pack as many of your opponents voters into as few districts as possible, while cracking up their remaining voters . Basically, you want to maximize the number of districts where your party wins by a comfortable but not too big margin. Winning by too big in a district means youve wasted some votes that could be used to counteract your opponents elsewhere.

Analysis Of The House Of Representatives

Republican Gerrymandering is Destroying Democracy

If Democrats are correct in their arguments that their votes are being taken away in House elections, it should be reflected in the national vote. In other words, they should be getting more votes across the country, only to have them unfairly portioned out in various districts in various states, so that the Republicans get a majority, right?

Democrats often suggest switching to a continental European system thats based on party lists or proportional representation systems. Your vote percentage tends to equal your seat percentage with this option, with tiny parties not crossing a threshold being eliminated and those parties getting more votes than the minimum dividing up the rest. What would happen if we had something like this gerrymander-killing electoral rule?

To do this, I looked at all 10 House elections from 2000 to 2018. I examined each partys share of the vote, which party gained seats, and which party won in terms of control of the lower branch of Congress itself. And heres what I found.


As you can see, the difference between Democrats and Republicans is not as great as one thinks in these elections. In three cases, Democrats have won 50 percent or more of the nationwide vote three times, while Republicans have won 50 percent or more of the vote across the country three times as well.

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How Republicans Use Redistricting To Their Advantage

As the redistricting process begins, were carefully watching for ways Republican can potentially game the system to increase their power in Congressat the expense of democracy. In todays Data Dive, were looking back at a 2020 study that dove into the impact of redistricting on the partisan seat share in the U.S. House over the last 50 yearsand how Republicans have manipulated the redistricting process for their own benefit.;

Redistricting is the process of drawing congressional and legislative districts, which are updated every ten years after the completion of the Census. The shape of districts matters because their borders determine who votes in an electionand if drawn in certain ways, a district could artificially inflate or restrict the representation of a group of voters. This is called gerrymandering: the act of drawing electoral districts for political gain. Republicans are gerrymandering experts; instead of running on popular ideas, they redraw the electorate to retain power. The study, Political Control Over Redistricting and the Partisan Balance in Congress,, finds the numbers for what we all knew was true: Republicans disproportionately benefit when they control redistricting, and voters lose.;

Key Takeaways:


Republicans Gerrymandering Increases Seat Share by 9.1%

Republican Redistricting Affects 1 in 10 Voters

Gerrymandering Has Gotten Worse this Centuryand Benefits Republicans More and More

Does Gerrymandering Really Work

Im not arguing that gerrymandering doesnt exist. Weve had the I-85 district in North Carolina and the Goofy Kicking Donald Duck district in Pennsylvania , as well as my own district in West Georgia in 2002, where district lines crossed several roads at tangents in our county that confused the heck out of residents, and even the candidates in both parties, who were unsure where to campaign. A representative who came to campaign at our college later learned that his district was actually across the street. I told him that the fraternity houses across the street were his constituents, so that was at least something.

But its a game both parties play. And sometimes, parties get too greedy in their district drawing zeal. After the 2000 U.S. Census, the Republican Party tried to draw districts to squeeze out Democrats in the House in Pennsylvania and wound up losing seats, including a powerful member or two. The same thing happened in Georgia after the 2000 Census, though it was the Democrats who tried to stick it to the GOP in the Peach State, and it cost them several winnable elections.;

The only solution is what voters have done in several states referendums, which involves the selection of a board of nonpartisan politicians to draw districts, which could be a better deal for America. With a mandate of a plan that splits as few counties as possible, we can finally see a welcome change in district drawing in the future.

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Is Gerrymandering Inherently Bad For Democrats

Many liberals reacted with dismay to the ruling in the Rucho v. Common Cause case, concerning gerrymandering against Democrats in North Carolina. But are Democrats really the victims of gerrymandering as much as the media is saying? To determine this, I analyzed all House election results since 2000, and looked at case studies in a tale of two states: Pennsylvania and Georgia.


Gerrymandering Doesn’t Determine Political Outcomes

Democratic Gains Require Overcoming Extreme GOP Gerrymandering | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, said Democrats complain about the GOPs sizable majority because their candidates and their issues dont appeal to the majority of Americans. His legislative counterparts in Pennsylvania likewise argue that gerrymandering doesnt determine political outcomes. The only plausible reason it would be harder for Petitioners to elect candidates of their choice, wrote the leaders of Pennsylvanias legislature, is because it may be harder for Petitioners to persuade a majority of the other 705,000+ voters in their districts to agree with them on the candidate they prefer.

But across the country, both parties have secured airtight majorities for multiple election cycles by controlling the redistricting process. In 2012, Republican legislative candidates received 48.6 percent of the vote in Wisconsin but won 60 percent of the seats in the State Assembly. In 2014, Democratic candidates received 57 percent of the vote in Maryland but won 88 percent of the states congressional seats.

Myth No. 4

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Why Possibly Changing The Filibuster Brings Threats Of Political Nuclear War

And Smith says its really hard to change because the Senate is enshrined in the Constitution.


But Wegman says this is not what the Framers had in mind. For one thing, when they wrote the Constitution, they thought only white men with property could vote. And they certainly couldnt have imagined how the population would grow and sort itself out.

At the time of the founding, the biggest state was 13 times the size of the smallest state. Today, the biggest state is 70 times the size of the smallest state, he said. So a few hundred thousand people in Wyoming have as much power as tens of millions of people in California or New York. And I think that violation of majority rule is going to continue to haunt us through the Senate, which is not really alterable in any meaningful way other than by just adding more states.

Democrats dont currently have the votes to grant statehood to Puerto Rico or Washington, D.C., or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Gerrymandering Wont Give Republicans The House

The sort of good news about the new Census numbers and recent history shows that performance matters more than map drawing.

Democrats have been terrified that their narrow House majority could vanish after the 2022 midterm elections.


Theres the usual midterm pummeling of a presidents party. And thanks to post-Census gerrymandering and reapportionment of the nations House seats. Democrats face a daunting future of severe Republican gerrymandering that could flip control of the House in 2022,warnedThe Atlantics Ron Brownstein in February. Said The Intercepts Ryan Grim, in his Bad News newsletter, blue states are losing seats, and red states are gaining seats. That shift alone could easily wipe out the partys majority, especially when you add in gerrymandering.

On Monday, the Census Bureau announced the reapportionment results. And the new maps dont look all that daunting.

States that lost one House seat were a mix of blue , purple and red Similarly, some blue states gained a seat , as well as purple-ish and red . The still fairly red Texas gained two.

States with no changes to their House seats can also redraw their lines, and Republicans control more state redistricting processes than Democrats.

A four-seat net gain from reapportionment and redistricting would help Republicans take the House in 2022 but they need to net five seats.


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Gerrymandering Has Gotten Worse This Centuryand Benefits Republicans More And More

Although the study covers the last five decades, it records a significant shift starting in the 21st century. After 2000, the impact of Republican gerrymandering grew strongerand had significant effects on the overall seat share of the U.S. House. From the 1970s-90s, the authors find partisan redistricting responsible for only about 5% of the seat share difference between Republicans and Democrats in the House, with other factors being the main determinant for the outcome of elections. In the last twenty years, however, that number shot up to over 50%half the Republican seat share advantage can be attributed to redistricting effects. And it shows: Democrats have only held the majority in the House for 5 of the last 20 years.;

Ultimately, Coriale et al. conclude that the last 20 years have demonstrated a new and stunning impact of gerrymandering. As state legislatures become more Republican dominated, the redistricting process results in huge swings in seat share, as a party unafraid to draw lines in their favor solidifies their electoral advantage.

Democrats having legal control over redistricting does little to swing the seat share in their favoror to correct the disproportionality drawn by Republicans. Conservatives use the redistricting pen to draw maps advantageous to their electoral chancesand they do so enthusiastically, netting partisan benefits that last for a decades worth of elections.;

A 21st Century Jim Crow Assault

The Idiot Factor: corruption folly :

Every ten years, after the census, states redraw their statehouse and congressional districts. In thirty-seven states, elected officials are in charge of that process. Twenty of those thirty-seven legislatures;are completely controlled by Republicans, while eight are controlled by Democrats.


In 2011, thanks to a;dark moneyfunded GOP campaign to capture hundreds of legislative seats during the 2010 midterms, Republicans dominated the redistricting process, designing the maps for more than;200 of the 340;congressional districts that were redrawn by state legislatures.

The GOP-drawn district maps heavily favored Republicans majorities at the state level and in the House. A 2017;study from the Brennan Center for Justice found: In the 26 states that account for 85 percent of congressional districts, Republicans derive a net benefit of at least 16-17 congressional seats in the current Congress from partisan bias.

The GOPs control of Congress kneecapped the Obama presidency and was only overcome by Democrats after courts struck down gerrymandered congressional maps in;Pennsylvania;and;Virginia.

As president, Biden continued to rail against GOP voter suppression laws,;;a 21st Century Jim Crow assault, and declaring that the fight for voting rights is the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.

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Society Today Than To Say The Same Thing About Blacks And Whites The Rich And The Poor And Other Social Groups

Are americas richest families republicans or democrats? Then, we split the dataset, stratified according to the party variable so as to have approximately similar proportions of democrats & republicans in. Live science is supported by its audience. The republicans used to favor big government, while democrats were committed to curbing federal power. The answer may surprise you. Are there more republicans or democrats? Once you know which party you belong to, it will be easier to decide which candidates to vote for during elections. . In the current 112th congress of the united states of america, there are 242 republicans in the house and 190 democrats. Of the top 25 most dangerous american cities, on top of poverty between 18 and 39 percent, most have unemployment between 4.4 and 9.3 percent. And its largely liberal democratic. However, thanks to gerrymandering, voter suppression, and anemic voter turnouts, these numbers are not always reflected in the elections. Society today than to say the same thing about blacks and whites, the rich and the poor, and other social groups.

Will Republicans Gerrymander Their Way To A House Majority

One of the concerns that has fed Democratic support for the sweeping voting-rights bill known as the For the People Act has been the imminence of a decennial redistricting process in which many Republican-controlled states are expected to pursue aggressive partisan gerrymandering at both the congressional and state legislative levels. Unsurprisingly, hostility to S. 1s anti-gerrymandering provisions is one reason for the near-universal GOP opposition to that legislation.

Assuming there is no miraculous congressional breakthrough on voting rights this year, there will be some serious gerrymandering going on in states that have not adopted independent redistricting commissions or at least limits on hyperpartisan maps. Many progressives fear the worst, as Mother Jones senior reporter Ari Berman explains:

Republicans could pick up anywhere from six to 13 seats in the House of Representatives enough to retake the House in 2022 through its control of the redistricting process in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas alone, according to a new analysis by the Democratic data firm TargetSmart that was shared exclusively with;Mother Jones. Republicans need to gain just five seats to regain control of the House.;

Kyle Kondik notes there have been plenty of overreaching dummymanders that failed their partisan purposes:

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