2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I fear Democrats are laying the groundwork for future losses by refusing to learn from defeat [View all]still_one
(96,533 posts)refused to vote for Hillary. Either they didn't vote, they didn't vote for the Senate Democrat, or they were deterred from voting.
In Michigan, Hillary lost by .3%. Jill Stein received 1.1% of the vote. Similar results in Wisconsin and other critical swing states.
Another factor which isn't discussed is the effect of the 2013 Supreme Court decision which struck down a key provision in the voters rights act.
14 states added new voting restrictions just in time for the 2016 election:
http://www.brennancenter.org/voting-restrictions-first-time-2016
North Carolina would have been included in that list, but last minute court rulings were able to get voters who had been removed from the voter registration list reinstated:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-naacp-voter-suppression_us_5817634fe4b064e1b4b385df
Problem in North Carolina was many of those voters did not realize they could vote in time.
Those voting restrictions which started in 2013, where not in place in 2008, and 2012, and they were definitely aimed at African Americans.
Losing the Presidency was bad enough, but losing the Senate was a disaster