What is a Mandate?
In a recent comment section on my blog, Publius commented on my post about the GOP Sandbox - in particular the whole idea of what a mandate means. Here’s what Publius wrote:
The only caveat that seems appropriate here is how much of a margin exemplifies a “mandate”? Did Arlen Specter have a mandate when he beat Pat Toomey 51-49? How about Will Gabig when he beat Frank Rankin 55-45? Or George Bush, when he won by the largest number of votes ever in history, only to sink to a 35 percent approval rating?
Mandates are only as good as the fallout and while everyone is excited about the possibility of a new face for the county committee, progress needs to be made. No one is thrilled about making hasty decisions, but the longer things go, the less interest people have.
Publius brings up a some great questions - what is a mandate, how do you know when you have a mandate, and is a mandate only as good as the results you make of that mandate. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Please share here, or e-mail me - mattbest@pa.net. I’ll post your thoughts on the matter and then add my own. I’ll give you all one week to leave comments. Thanks.
June 14th, 2007 at 10:59 am
[…] One week ago I posed a question that picqued my interest - What is a mandate? It was inspired by Publius, a regular reader of this blog. There weren’t many responses to this, to be perfectly honest, but I think that is because it’s a difficult question. Here’s the responses I did recieve: […]