"The incoming Senate is comprised mostly of Republicans -- 54 to the Democrats' 44 (plus two independents, who hang out/vote with Democrats). But those Democrats actually received 20 million more cumulative votes than did the Republicans, as Vox pointed out (to much Internet traffic, no doubt) over the weekend. What gives?
As is the way with online writing, we were beaten to a more-thorough analysis by Real Clear Politics' Sean Trende, who outlines very neatly the ways in which the apparent contrast between popular support and Senate power isn't actually a big deal. (Certainly not suggestive, as Vox's Dylan Matthews offered, of the need to abolish the Senate.) But it's still worth another look at the numbers.
Here's one way of looking at them: Democratic senators got 20 million more votes than the Republicans. (Vox conflates those independent senators with the Democrats, which is a bit of a cheat but doesn't really matter since those senators are in the tiny states of Maine and Vermont.)"
* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
January 2015
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