It’s still technically possible as of 0946GMT that John Kerry could win the electoral college. It would also be pleasantly ironic to make the Republicans spend four years under a President who plainly didn’t represent the will of American voters. However, the chances that this will actually happen are so low that Mr Kerry should probably just concede, and avoid Republican charges next time round that Democrats are all lawyerly sore losers.
What happened between the polls and the election? I suspect a big problem was poor adjustment for the high turnout – normally, one would expect this to favour the party with working-class and minority support, but in this case it seems like the fundies were also out in force. Still doesn’t explain the dodgy exit polls, though. Maybe Natalie Solent’s shy Tory answer is correct – certainly, people who voted for Dubya *should* be ashamed, although red-state Americans have never been shy about their conservatism in the past.
I’ll post on some of the implications of the result later – bet you all can’t wait.
Update 1713GMT: he’s finally taken my advice and conceded.
Buggerbugger. I was so optimistic.
Oh, the ‘shy tory’ link dun work btw.
Fixed now, hopefully.
The exitpolls were off because they did all their sampling in the morning. Most people with a job vote after work. I wonder who they were trending towards?
The 7:30 ones were off too. Also, old people and stay-at-home mums tend toward social conservatism (and are more likely to vote than the unemployed or students).
The elderly are not nearly so conservative as you seem to believe. Stay at home moms are though. The vets really turned out, and that’s what killed Kerry. Winter Soldier really came back to haunt him for the traitor that he is.