The CCRC had as its guest speaker on Tuesday's monthly meeting, Tim Bryant, news anchor for Athens radio station, 1340 am WGAU. Mr. Bryant made some comments and then took some questions regarding the recent elections. With regards to the presidential election, Tim interpreted that there were two reasons that Obama won. Turnout for young voters was much higher than recent elections, which favored Obama, and hispanic voters switched from being evenly split in past elections among Republicans and Democrats to favoring Obama by about 10 points. Another interesting fact, although turnout among registered voters was higher in 2008, turnout among eligible voters was only 53%, the lowest turnout since 1876.
Tim predicts that the state legislature should remain in Republican hands for several years according to the trends. Mr. Bryant noted that the local election was not a "change" election, despite the national media reporting as such. Regarding media bias, Tim notes that this has always existed, but because of the multitude of outlets, that bias is diluted.
The CCRC thanks Tim for coming in to visit us and the good work he is doing.
