5 ms·

Can someone explain to me why the media constantly uses the word landslide to describe hillaries victories? I mean, looking at the results, I see that, superdel

Can someone explain to me why the media constantly uses the word landslide to describe hillaries victories? I mean, looking at the results, I see that, superdelegates aside, most of the primaries seem to show a 5 to 10% difference between sanders and clinton. I call that a rather close victory. (Even if 1% can mean thousands of people)

emodendroket 11y ago
As I think this election cycle has made plain, calling someone the "mainstream" or "favored" candidate is an attempt to police the margins of discourse, not an objective statement of fact.
gdulli 11y ago
The 2000 presidential election really changed things. The winner of the popular vote at the national level lost the election, and of course there was the whole Florida recount thing. 2004 was also very close and reinforced this. Since then a 10-15 point win seems like a bigger deal than it used to and the threshold for using "landslide" is lower. Hillary won 3 of 5 states last night by 10+ points and the biggest state by 30+ points. Overall that might not have been called a landslide 20 years ago but the definition is looser now.
- toyg 11y ago
  Yeah, since 2000 it became clear the US electoral process is f*ed up (which makes the whole "democracy" grandstanding very shallow). And I thought the UK system was bad...
  - pmarreck 11y ago
    At least we don't have a monarchy. ;)
chippy 11y ago
> hillaries victories Hillary is a name and not a noun and it's not really a plural here either (there is not more than one Hilary) and so the grammar should therefore be: "Hilary's victories"
- superskierpat 11y ago
  Sorry I'm from quebec, I'll be more careful.
pvg 11y ago
Many of the results, a number in big states, are absolute, crushing landslides. http://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/elections-results-primaries-2016/#d http://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/elections-results... Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. Throw in very substantial margins in Ohio and North Carolina.
- superskierpat 11y ago
  Makes it look like there is still a big difference between the north and the south.

emodendroket 11y ago

As I think this election cycle has made plain, calling someone the "mainstream" or "favored" candidate is an attempt to police the margins of discourse, not an objective statement of fact.

gdulli 11y ago

The 2000 presidential election really changed things. The winner of the popular vote at the national level lost the election, and of course there was the whole Florida recount thing. 2004 was also very close and reinforced this. Since then a 10-15 point win seems like a bigger deal than it used to and the threshold for using "landslide" is lower. Hillary won 3 of 5 states last night by 10+ points and the biggest state by 30+ points. Overall that might not have been called a landslide 20 years ago but the definition is looser now.

toyg 11y ago
Yeah, since 2000 it became clear the US electoral process is f*ed up (which makes the whole "democracy" grandstanding very shallow). And I thought the UK system was bad...
- pmarreck 11y ago
  At least we don't have a monarchy. ;)

chippy 11y ago

> hillaries victories Hillary is a name and not a noun and it's not really a plural here either (there is not more than one Hilary) and so the grammar should therefore be: "Hilary's victories"

superskierpat 11y ago
Sorry I'm from quebec, I'll be more careful.

pvg 11y ago

Many of the results, a number in big states, are absolute, crushing landslides. http://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/elections-results-primaries-2016/#d http://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/elections-results... Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. Throw in very substantial margins in Ohio and North Carolina.

superskierpat 11y ago
Makes it look like there is still a big difference between the north and the south.