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It is very close, especially when you consider that a million more Americans voted for a Democrat House candidate than a Republican one. Republicans have a 33
by fsck--off 13y ago
It is very close, especially when you consider that a million more Americans voted for a Democrat House candidate than a Republican one.
Republicans have a 33 seat majority, despite losing the popular vote 48.7% - 47.6%, thanks to rampant gerrymandering after the 2010 election.
I did a (meaningless) back of the envelope calculation, and found that if the number of representatives were proportional to the popular vote count, and the same percentage of Democrats voted for this bill, then the bill would have passed.
Of course, it probably wouldn't have made it through the senate, since the non-talking filibuster allows any single member to effectively veto any bill brought up.
- zachrose 13y agoAs far as I can tell, this issue crosses party lines. Republicans voted 94-134 against the amendment, and Democrats voted 111-83 for it. A fairly even spread, compared to any number of more partisan issues. http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/155815805 http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/155815805
- clarky07 13y agoIt doesn't necessarily have anything to do with gerrymandering (though it likely does to some extent). A more likely cause is that cities tend to have a democrat win by a wide margin and rural areas tend to have a republican win by a smaller margin. Combine that with the fact that all districts aren't identical in size and you get a legitimate way for this to happen.