Nate Silver Incorrectly Asserts That Voter Blahs in 2014 Mean Election Isn't As Important

The headline:

The 2014 Election Is the Least Important in Years

Now, I know that I have publicly stated several times since November of 2012 that I will never disagree with Nate Silver again, but I’m not talking about the statistics here, but his spin. This is his reporting on what the Gallup poll that’s the basis for this actually said:

A Gallup poll released Monday found that just 35 percent of registered voters are more excited than usual about voting in November’s midterm elections. That’s well down from 2010 and somewhat down from most other midterm years when Gallup has asked this question. Midterm elections normally generate less voter enthusiasm than presidential years, so this isn’t all that high a bar to clear.

Less voter enthusiasm doesn’t mean that the stakes are diminished as well. If American voter apathy is the main determining factor about the importance of the issues in any election, turn out the lights and shut this thing down now.

As one of the people who keeps plowing ahead no matter how wearisome the previous elections have been, I would say that people like me are even more invested in this year’s outcome because we would like to strengthen our position for the 2016 presidential contest as much as possible.

The poll finds that the Democrats are facing an even bigger enthusiasm gap, which isn’t surprising given the real versus the media-spun Obama track record. It’s difficult to tell people who are now without, or paying significantly more for, health insurance thanks to Obamacare that this is all an obstructionist Republican illusion.

It may lack the shininess of a presidential election, but there is plenty of reason to vote for anyone who wants to stem the progressive leftward creep in the American political conversation.