The GOP wave that swept across the nation on Tuesday was fueled by low turnout, with voter participation consisting disproportionately of older people and, of course, lots of Republicans.
In Michigan, the news for the Democrats was disastrous. Their terrible showing on Election Night resulted in part because state party chairman Lon Johnson's effort to boost absentee ballot voting failed spectacularly. Turnout was actually worse than in the GOP landslide of 2010.
As a result, the final numbers show that Gov. Rick Snyder's Democratic challenger, Mark Schauer, who was supposedly running neck-and-neck with the incumbent, carried just nine of the 68 counties in the Lower Peninsula. Nine. That's 13 percent.
Statewide voter turnout was 42.6 percent. In Macomb County, voter participation was 43.2 percent.
Nationwide, turnout was just 36.6 percent compared to 40.9 percent in 2010, according to the United States Elections Project.
The disparity between the under-30 Millenials and the over-60 seniors was the widest it's been in a decade, according to exit polls. The older voters comprised 37 percent of the electorate; young people made up a mere 12 percent. Obama fatigue certainly was a factor.
Here's how U.S. News and World Report summed up the outcome:
"The differences were especially stark in some states that saw nosedives of crazy proportions. Turnout numbers in Washington, Delaware, Missouri, South Dakota, California and Indiana all dropped by more than 10 percentage points between 2010 and 2014. And although some states made gains in voter turnout (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Maine, to name several) ... only 12 states turned out a higher percentage of eligible voters this year than in the last midterms."
"The differences were especially stark in some states that saw nosedives of crazy proportions. Turnout numbers in Washington, Delaware, Missouri, South Dakota, California and Indiana all dropped by more than 10 percentage points between 2010 and 2014. And although some states made gains in voter turnout (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Maine, to name several) ... only 12 states turned out a higher percentage of eligible voters this year than in the last midterms."
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