How has the Pandemic Affected Your Preception?

[SEWIGuy]

One thing I've realized is that political articles and videos get me more agitated than I care to be–and that goes just as much for ones supporting my viewpoint as those contradicting it.  Some of the guys I had just started to watch a lot of on YouTube because their thoughts really resonated with me, as it turns out, were the first to go. 

I hate living in a swing state.  Every other ad is a political advertisement of some sort.  And every newscast is about one of four people coming to visit...or will be visiting soon.

[Rothman]

If we didn't have such a significant number of fencesitters that change their minds day to day, I wonder if political ads and visits would diminish.

[webny99]

If we didn't have such a significant number of fencesitters that change their minds day to day, I wonder if political ads and visits would diminish.

I don't think it has anything to do with the volume of swing voters. If anything, there's historically very few of those. It has more to do with the electoral college and the way our elections are decided. You're always going to have swing states. It's just unrealistic and nonviable to expect the electoral map to stay the same from one election to the next.

[webny99]

On a completely different topic, it kind of feels like this entire year since March has been basically a single Covid season, and now fall is coming and 3/4 of the year has undeniably slipped away. The transition from summer to fall is always the season change I notice most. It tends to mess with my emotions, and I can't help but think that's going to be the case this year more than ever. I'm just so not ready for the end of long summer evenings and nice weather.

[vdeane]

I hate living in a swing state.  Every other ad is a political advertisement of some sort.  And every newscast is about one of four people coming to visit...or will be visiting soon.

I can't even imagine what it's like in a swing state.  It already feels bad enough with just the ads for the two adjacent congressional districts.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

One thing I've realized is that political articles and videos get me more agitated than I care to be–and that goes just as much for ones supporting my viewpoint as those contradicting it.  Some of the guys I had just started to watch a lot of on YouTube because their thoughts really resonated with me, as it turns out, were the first to go. 

I hate living in a swing state.  Every other ad is a political advertisement of some sort.  And every newscast is about one of four people coming to visit...or will be visiting soon.

Minnesota is being treated as a true swing state for the first time and boy do I feel the pain. Both candidates will be here this week and I'm pretty sure Trump or Pence has been here weekly for the last month-plus.

[tdindy88]

I feel conflicted about the swing states a little. On one hand (one big hand) it probably is super annoying. On the other hand, you have power. It seems as if the candidates are sucking up to you, but not me or others in the non-swing states. If you live in Indiana, New York or Tennessee you're nothing. But north or the Indiana Toll Road or the Cheddar Curtain and suddenly you're special.

It probably feels nothing like that if you're in a swing state though from what I gathered.

[Scott5114]

Meanwhile, it would be nice to have my opinion matter at all in Oklahoma. It's very hard not to feel like going to vote is an exercise in futility–Presidential, US Senate, and US House (in my district) outcomes are already preordained the moment the primaries concluded. I still vote anyway, since county and local positions matter, and state question outcomes are downright surprising sometimes, but I have to remind myself "hey, maybe your county will be different than normal this time" and pretend like that matters.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I feel conflicted about the swing states a little. On one hand (one big hand) it probably is super annoying. On the other hand, you have power. It seems as if the candidates are sucking up to you, but not me or others in the non-swing states. If you live in Indiana, New York or Tennessee you're nothing. But north or the Indiana Toll Road or the Cheddar Curtain and suddenly you're special.

It probably feels nothing like that if you're in a swing state though from what I gathered.

Nah. They don't give a fuck about us for the other 3 1/2 years of the cycle. It's not like they're trying to keep their standing here during their terms (which, ironically, would probably help their re-elections if they did do that).

[formulanone]

If we didn't have such a significant number of fencesitters that change their minds day to day, I wonder if political ads and visits would diminish.

There's the centrist fence-sitters, who genuinely can see positives and negatives with either decision, and judging which sub-optimal choice will harm them the least yet give the smallest benefit to be proud of.

Frankly, there's a much larger (but loosely-held) bloc of non-voters of all types. Almost no amount of advertising is going to work; they're going to shoulder whatever change comes at them, or that they see the overarching political circus as nothing more than bad theater that grabs time, wastes money, demands out-sized attention, creates more lies than truth, and has more overall distortion than a Skinny Puppy album.

If religion is the opiate of the masses, then politics are the cheap carbohydrates.

[NWI_Irish96]

I feel conflicted about the swing states a little. On one hand (one big hand) it probably is super annoying. On the other hand, you have power. It seems as if the candidates are sucking up to you, but not me or others in the non-swing states. If you live in Indiana, New York or Tennessee you're nothing. But north or the Indiana Toll Road or the Cheddar Curtain and suddenly you're special.

It probably feels nothing like that if you're in a swing state though from what I gathered.

The worst is when your network TV stations originate from a different state than where you live, and you get non-stop commercials for people not even on your ballot.

For 11 years I lived just across the Ohio River from Louisville, and had to endure endless commercials for Kentucky governor and senate races. Now I live just a few miles from Chicago. Last year was 24/7 Illinois governor commercials. This year, with the Presidential race being non-competitive in Illinois, there are continuous commercials for and against a ballot proposal to amend the state constitution to allow different income tax rates based on income.

[SEWIGuy]

I feel conflicted about the swing states a little. On one hand (one big hand) it probably is super annoying. On the other hand, you have power. It seems as if the candidates are sucking up to you, but not me or others in the non-swing states. If you live in Indiana, New York or Tennessee you're nothing. But north or the Indiana Toll Road or the Cheddar Curtain and suddenly you're special.

It probably feels nothing like that if you're in a swing state though from what I gathered.

No, I have no power outside of my one vote.  It's a constant attempt at manipulation. 

[kphoger]

With the electoral college, we have swing states.  With swing states, candidates focus their energy on those swing states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Which system seems better to you probably depends in part on what state you happen to live in.  (Although states like Nebraska and Montana would probably get the shaft either way.)

On a completely different topic, it kind of feels like this entire year since March has been basically a single Covid season, and now fall is coming and 3/4 of the year has undeniably slipped away. The transition from summer to fall is always the season change I notice most. It tends to mess with my emotions, and I can't help but think that's going to be the case this year more than ever. I'm just so not ready for the end of long summer evenings and nice weather.

The weather change from summer to autumn always brings good feelings for me.  It was that time of year that I first fell in love.  Even though I haven't been in a relationship with that person for two decades, even though I've been happily married to someone else for the last 14 years, there's still a subconscious connection in my mind between the feel of the air and those good feelings from the distant past.

[webny99]

On a completely different topic, it kind of feels like this entire year since March has been basically a single Covid season, and now fall is coming and 3/4 of the year has undeniably slipped away. The transition from summer to fall is always the season change I notice most. It tends to mess with my emotions, and I can't help but think that's going to be the case this year more than ever. I'm just so not ready for the end of long summer evenings and nice weather.

The weather change from summer to autumn always brings good feelings for me.  It was that time of year that I first fell in love.  Even though I haven't been in a relationship with that person for two decades, even though I've been happily married to someone else for the last 14 years, there's still a subconscious connection in my mind between the feel of the air and those good feelings from the distant past.

I love the cool (but not cold) weather, and overall, I really like late summer/early fall and the delicious feeling of fall being in the air. But this year, it feels different. I think part of it is that last fall was the last time that we had normal times and nice weather at once, and precisely because I enjoy this time of year, I'm remembering the good old times more than ever. I wish that didn't make me feel more sad than happy, but it has, especially in the last week or two.

[SEWIGuy]

With the electoral college, we have swing states.  With swing states, candidates focus their energy on those swing states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Which system seems better to you probably depends in part on what state you happen to live in.  (Although states like Nebraska and Montana would probably get the shaft either way.)

Getting the shaft is having to listen to this sh*t for months and months. 

[NWI_Irish96]

With the electoral college, we have swing states.  With swing states, candidates focus their energy on those swing states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Which system seems better to you probably depends in part on what state you happen to live in.  (Although states like Nebraska and Montana would probably get the shaft either way.)

The biggest problem with the electoral college is that it's based on the size of the House of Representatives, which hasn't grown in size as the population of the country has.

In 1790, the smallest state had about 1.5 times the relative electoral power of the largest state. Today, the smallest state has over 3 times the relative electoral power of the largest state.

While eliminating the electoral college would completely strip power from the smaller states, not adjusting the size of the House of Representatives has given them too much power. I know there is a physical building with capacity limits, but we've got to figure out a way to have a larger legislative body.

[adventurernumber1]

This pandemic has certainly had an impact on me.

One of the most striking differences for me personally is that I now have much more of an appreciation for sunlight and the outdoors. As a real young child I was outdoors quite often, but for the past several years increasingly stayed inside. As the pandemic has worsened my depression and other mental illnesses, I had a realization that I need to get outside much more. I was in desperate need of sunshine and natural endorphins. I only go out into the backyard, as I am minimizing physical contact so much as to not even go walking around the neighborhood, but starting in the past month, many days I have gone out and sat on the back patio, sometimes for hours. I have listened to music, drawn roads in my notebooks, read, and even worked on some online college assignments on my phone. It was desperately needed and I will never take the sunshine for granted again.

I have also been reflecting on my own mortality, and I echo thoughts of being reminded of how we are all on borrowed time and tomorrow isn't guaranteed. I don't know how well I would fare with this virus if I contract it, given that my physical health has been going downhill, especially in the past year. This is a nasty virus that has even put young people in critical condition (or death), so I must be prepared for anything and enjoy each day. My grandfather also passed away this past Spring and was in the hospital when things started getting really serious here in the United States (March), which also served as a reminder of mortality, especially since he was the first of my grandparents to pass away (the other three still living).

During the pandemic, one of the things I have missed the most is family gatherings. I can't wait until things get back to normal, because I have missed that very greatly. I have also missed being able to see friends, although I have probably fared better than average, since I am an introvert and never did socialize a whole lot. Even online I have probably been more withdrawn than I should be, and I have not been keeping in touch with my friends enough.

My mental health has definitely taken a hit since the start of the pandemic. As a matter of fact I would even say this is the worst some of my mental illnesses have been in three years (the first half of 2017 was the lowest low). But at the same time this has forced me to be healthier and go outside more, as I am desperate for natural remedies that I should have been doing already. I have to keep looking up, but this pandemic has certainly been a melancholy time, and I ache for the day when it will all be over.

I had taken a lot of things for granted before the pandemic. I took for granted that a relatively normal status quo, or at least one we had been used to for a long time, could so quickly change and the whole world could be in such a dire, unprecedented situation. I knew about pandemics in the past such as the Plague and the 1918 Flu, but I guess there was a part of me thinking "surely nothing like that will happen again anytime soon." I have obviously been proven mistaken, and this is the worst pandemic we have endured in a century. This is certainly a year for the history books, and one that I never could have predicted. Back at New Years, I had high hopes for this year, as well as the ensuing decade, but I have been disappointed at how it has started, and it was certainly something I never could have predicted.

-My sense of time is completely warped. What even is a week anymore? What even is a weekend anymore? One just blends into the next.

Definitely.  Plus time just flies by now - it's very hard to believe it's already September.

Yeah, it's weird. March feels simultaneously like just a couple minutes ago but also several decades ago.
One one hand, not much happens/changes from day to day in this stay-at-home era, but on the other hand, it's been a very news-heavy year, and keeping up seems to consume a bit more mental energy when you're not interacting with other people or "in the real world" as much as usual.

You hit the nail right on the head. March does indeed paradoxically feel like just yesterday but forever ago at the same time. Time certainly feels very distorted, and it feels as if we are losing months to this pandemic - we'll never get back a "normal" 2020, these months are defined by times of hardship, isolation, and significant events, and they are extremely unusual. We have lost 2020, but perhaps, as someone noted upthread, we can learn something from these experiences and make necessary changes and improvements. I can only hope that 2021 will be a better year, but as this year has shown, anything can happen and history can be very unpredictable.

On a completely different topic, it kind of feels like this entire year since March has been basically a single Covid season, and now fall is coming and 3/4 of the year has undeniably slipped away. The transition from summer to fall is always the season change I notice most. It tends to mess with my emotions, and I can't help but think that's going to be the case this year more than ever. I'm just so not ready for the end of long summer evenings and nice weather.

The weather change from summer to autumn always brings good feelings for me.  It was that time of year that I first fell in love.  Even though I haven't been in a relationship with that person for two decades, even though I've been happily married to someone else for the last 14 years, there's still a subconscious connection in my mind between the feel of the air and those good feelings from the distant past.

I love the cool (but not cold) weather, and overall, I really like late summer/early fall and the delicious feeling of fall being in the air. But this year, it feels different. I think part of it is that last fall was the last time that we had normal times and nice weather at once, and precisely because I enjoy this time of year, I'm remembering the good old times more than ever. I wish that didn't make me feel more sad than happy, but it has, especially in the last week or two.

Due to a recently developing physical health problem, I now cannot handle the cold anymore. Which means that I highly enjoy sitting out in the heat, something I wasn't nearly as fond of in the past. I am utilizing the hot temperatures of the summer before it disappears, and I fear I may not be able to go outside as much once it starts getting colder. For that reason, I am lamenting summer coming to a close, as much as I love Fall (which contains my birthday as well), and I can definitely understand the melancholy feelings of the currently ensuing change of seasons.

[hotdogPi]

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, they would focus on areas that can draw many people. While these are typically urban areas, it has nothing to do with the size of the state. There would be events in Rhode Island because it's a very dense area where a single event can reach tens of thousands of people.

They would still focus on swing states a bit (although at a much lower level) because of trying to help Senate candidates.

[formulanone]

With the electoral college, we have swing states.  With swing states, candidates focus their energy on those swing states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Which system seems better to you probably depends in part on what state you happen to live in.  (Although states like Nebraska and Montana would probably get the shaft either way.)

Getting the shaft is having to listen to this sh*t for months and months. 

Years ago, I remember a pundit saying something like "the election comes down to how well you do in the same 10-12 states". So the Dakotas, Rhode Island, and Hawaii aren't a big enough prize, while California and Alabama are going to be very solidly one way to not bother for long stretches of a candidate's time. Then there's the Favorite Son states, though that's likely to be a non-issue this time around.

Wisconsin (like Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, et al) has been one of those places for a while now.

[SEWIGuy]

There was a move a few years ago to seriously move up the Wisconsin primary. The general reasoning is because candidates would pay attention more if it were early in the primary season.

Why would anyone want that?  I feel bad for the poor Iowans who have to deal with these bozos showing up at events around the state for two years.

[kphoger]

The biggest problem with the electoral college is that it's based on the size of the House of Representatives, which hasn't grown in size as the population of the country has.

In 1790, the smallest state had about 1.5 times the relative electoral power of the largest state. Today, the smallest state has over 3 times the relative electoral power of the largest state.

While eliminating the electoral college would completely strip power from the smaller states, not adjusting the size of the House of Representatives has given them too much power. I know there is a physical building with capacity limits, but we've got to figure out a way to have a larger legislative body.

The comparison will vary, of course, depending on whether you're counting (a) total population, (b) total number of people legally eligible to vote, or (c) total number of registered voters.  While women, minorities, and non-landowners have at different times won the right to vote, there are still large populations of people who aren't allowed to vote–children, foreign residents, et al.

Out of curiosity, I compared the relative weight of electoral votes in the 1796 election.  The results are shown below.  Please let me know if I messed up the math.

Based on total state population, using 1790 census data
A Rhode Island elector's vote was worth 2.07 times as much as a Virginia elector's vote.



Based on total state population, using 1800 census data
A Rhode Island elector's vote was worth 3.20 times as much as a Kentucky elector's vote.



Based on state population of free white males over age 16, using 1790 census data
A Georgia elector's vote was worth 2.29 times as much as a Massachusetts elector's vote.



Based on state population of free white males over age 16, using 1800 census data
A Delaware elector's vote was worth 2.89 times as much as a New York elector's vote.

[kphoger]

From reading people's posts on here, I think I'm probably either more fortunate or less frightened than a lot of people.

1.  I've never been out of work.  I worked at home for several weeks, but I've been back in the office for months now.  (My wife lost some potential income because she has a home daycare and all the parents were financially affected in some way.  One of them is just now getting back to work.)

2.  Most of my friends are from church.  Our small group resumed meeting at home before in-person worship services did.  Corporate worship has been going on for a couple of months now, I think.  Even Sunday school for the kids resumed this week, although my wife and I haven't decided yet if we're going to send our kids there yet.

3.  Even while I was working from home, I took a walk during my lunch break, plus our family takes an evening walk every so often.  My outdoor time hasn't been affected at all, except in a positive way.

4.  While church services were on hold, our eldest son was tasked by the youth pastor with leading our family in weekly Bible study.  When that wrapped up, our family decided we didn't want to stop.  We have therefore started daily family Bible study between dinner and bedtime (unless schedules won't allow), and that's been awesome.  We just finished our 51st session last night.

5.  Nobody I personally know who has gotten COVID has had their health negatively affected.  A couple of people I know second-hand have had a harder time, but no one I've personally met.

6.  My sister and her husband have been down to visit from Iowa three times since this began, and we still see my parents regularly.

7.  Our children are home-schooled, so we haven't had to deal with online classrooms and all that jazz.  School in our house is completely normal.  (I did have to help my parents, who are both teachers, figure out how to record their sessions with the tools provided by the school, but that just took a couple of hours one evening.)

[mgk920]

With the electoral college, we have swing states.  With swing states, candidates focus their energy on those swing states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Which system seems better to you probably depends in part on what state you happen to live in.  (Although states like Nebraska and Montana would probably get the shaft either way.)

The small states actually have disproportionate power in the USSenate and Electoral College compared to the big states.  OTOH, I agree and the Founding Fathers were so correct here, if it was a straight popular vote - 'Flyover Country' would be just that to the campaigns and those who are elected, the small states would be completely ignored and trampled upon by the big states and big-city elites.  With the USSenate and Electoral College, the Wyomings, Vermonts, North Dakotas, Alaskas, etc, have to be a part of the decision making process and paid attention to, just like the Californias, New Yorks, Floridas, Pennsylvanias and Michigans are.

- Another *MASSIVE* reason to have the Electoral College and, IMHO, a critically important one - one word here:  'Recount'.



Mike

[SEWIGuy]

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, they would focus on areas that can draw many people. While these are typically urban areas, it has nothing to do with the size of the state. There would be events in Rhode Island because it's a very dense area where a single event can reach tens of thousands of people.

They would still focus on swing states a bit (although at a much lower level) because of trying to help Senate candidates.

I'm not trying to make a political statement here, but IF Donald Trump wins in November, it will likely be the sixth time that the candidate losing the popular vote won the Presidency. 

However, it will be the third time in the last six elections, all benefiting one party over another.

I'm not sure if that's what the founders intended (I would argue they had zero intentions of creating anything remotely similar to what we see today), but I'm not sure it is healthy.  Although it isn't as unhealthy as gerrymandering, which I think is the worst of our political problems.

[SEWIGuy]

With the electoral college, we have swing states.  With swing states, candidates focus their energy on those swing states at the expense of all others.

Without the electoral college, we would have no swing states.  Without them, candidates would focus their energy on the most populous states at the expense of all others.

Which system seems better to you probably depends in part on what state you happen to live in.  (Although states like Nebraska and Montana would probably get the shaft either way.)

The small states actually have disproportionate power in the USSenate and Electoral College compared to the big states.  OTOH, I agree and the Founding Fathers were so correct here, if it was a straight popular vote - 'Flyover Country' would be just that to the campaigns and those who are elected, the small states would be completely ignored and trampled upon by the big states and big-city elites.  With the USSenate and Electoral College, the Wyomings, Vermonts, North Dakotas, Alaskas, etc, have to be a part of the decision making process and paid attention to, just like the Californias, New Yorks, Floridas, Pennsylvanias and Michigans are.

- Another *MASSIVE* reason to have the Electoral College and, IMHO, a critically important one - one word here:  'Recount'.



Mike

Counterpoint:  why should flyover country's people votes count more?  They have disproportionate influence on the outcome of the election.  Sure, elections would focus on large metropolitan areas versus rural areas, but since 80% of the people live in urban areas, doesn't that make sense?