Monday, September 16, 2024

What Electoral College Disadvantage?

Look at this whiff me, wouldja? This is conservative-biased RCP's color-coded Electoral Vote bar.









So Kama Walz leads by a hair, two hairs, that's the most prominent take. Without for now getting into which states they put in one of the seven categories, just look at the distribution: 139 EV's are "solid Harris", i.e. states trumpie-Couch have zero shot at. Comparatively there are 93 deep maroon electoral votes, states Kama Walz have no shot at. That's a big diff! 

Now look at the next-lighter shades: 52 for Kama Walz, 38 for trumpie-Couch. Those are what RCP deems "likely" for one side or the other. Those are states it doesn't pay the trailing side to put much if any resources into. That's a significant difference, too. Add those two sets of numbers together and it's Kama Walz 191, trumpie-Couch 131. On locks and near-locks Kamala is within 79 of the presidency.

Now go to the sky blue and pink. 30 for Kamala, 88 for trumpie. Those are "leans". trumpie better lean hard on them, hoo doggie! 

The sky blue, the pink, and the gray are all up for grabs for either candidate. Those three shades add up to 216 Electoral Votes. trumpie has to play defense more, he has to defend almost three times the territory that kamala has to defend. And he would still need to win 50, over half, of the toss-up gray, to break even in the Electoral College and throw the election into the House of Representatives, where he would win the presidency. 

trumpie would have to win 138, all the pink and 50 grays, of the truly up for grabs 216 Electoral Votes.  Kamala would Walz into the presidency by holding her 30 sky blues and taking 49 of the grays, only 69 of those 216. 69 to 138 is a major advantage for Kamala Walz. RCP's shaded states map:


To my gut, the pink states, TX, FL and OH--we will do nothing in Texas, little to nothing in FL and nothing in Ohio unless the polls toss them into toss-ups. Needless to say, if trumpie lost any one of those states, which conservative-biased RCP labels as mere "leans", said trumpie would be hurtin' for certin'. 

Similarly, I don't see trumpie-Couch making any feint into VA, MN and ME-2. They have other more fecund, nay desperate, states to spend their dwindling resources on: Pa., Wi., NC, Ga., Mi., NH. NV, NE-2. Conservative RCP, when they resolve to their no-tossup map, gives Pa., Wi., Mi, Mn., Va. NV, NH, NE-2 and ME-2 to Kamala-Walz. Resolving so many of the 216 up for grabs for Kamala gives her a squeaky comfortable 276 EVs. 

For now, I have lost faith in Az, NC, and Ga. Ga. especially has flip-flopped but I don't have a good feeling there. NC I have no faith in, and I don't understand Az, trumpie has had a lead there for weeks, albeit a small one. 276 is a reasonable number for Kamala and does the trick and I'm not paying for a landslide.