Think New York Jets over Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, Buster Douglas’ knockout of Mike Tyson in 1990, U.S. hockey team beating the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics and Villanova topping Georgetown to win the 1985 NCAA basketball championship.
These are some of the greatest upsets in sports, but I’m not sure any of them can compete with what we just witnessed in the Nov. 8 presidential election. Did any of you expect Donald Trump to become president-elect and by such a wide margin?
OK, it was a wide margin via the electoral college, the only vote that counts, with Trump, the Republican nominee, winning 290-232 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. The popular vote count was razor thin with Clinton winning a plurality with 47.8 percent to Trump’s 47.3.
This was the fifth election in which the recipient of a plurality of the popular vote did not become president. The other times this occurred were in 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000.
Now, back to the upset. Polls that consistently gave Clinton a comfortable lead in recent weeks included Bloomberg Politics, CBS News, Fox News, Reuters/Ipsos, USA TODAY/Suffolk, Quinnipiac, Monmouth, Economist/YouGov and NBC News/SM, according to RealClearPolitics.
Of 67 national polls tracking a four-way race since the start of October, only four gave Trump the lead, according to RealClearPolitics. Of 61 national polls tracking a two-way race during that period, six gave Trump the lead.
I don’t know that pollsters and the media were ever this misinformed regarding a presidential contest. Yes, Florida, won by Trump, was a close call. The biggest misses per pollsters and media came in the rust belt corridor.
The last national average of 10 polls on Nov. 7, the day before the election, had Clinton winning Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin quite handily. Ohio was expected to be a dogfight.
When Trump won Florida a path for victory by the eventual president-elect started to open. When Pennsylvania, which appeared to be Clinton’s to lose, fell to Trump the mood changed for both campaigns.
There appeared to be handful of reasons pollsters got this one so wrong. Small towns and rural America appeared to be a forgotten population. For example, if you look at the map of Ohio, Clinton carried the urban areas of Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Franklin County (Columbus), Lucas County (Toledo) and Hamilton County (Cincinnati). The rest of the state was a sea of red (Republican).
There was also a faction of individuals who had every attention of voting for Trump, but did not admit to doing so when asked. These people are referred to as “leaners.” If cornered at a party, they would lean toward the person next to them and whisper they were voting for the Republican candidate.
Clinton supporters were more likely to say they supported their candidate than Trump supporters were to say they were a Trump supporter. It would also appear that people who did not vote in the last presidential election (2012) were more likely to cast ballots in 2016.
Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as our 45h president on Jan. 20, 2017. None of the protesting that has occurred regarding Trump’s victory will change that fact.
The one thing I do know is that we all have to pray for the president, his cabinet and our nation. It wouldn’t matter who was elected. No polling numbers would change that.
God bless our veterans
Our nation stopped to honor those men and women who have worn the uniform of the U.S. armed forces on Nov. 11, Veterans Day.
From schools to municipalities to VFW Posts and American Legions, it was a day to honor and recognize that we enjoy our freedoms and way of life because of what those brave men and women did in locations across the globe.
You can read about the Veterans Day ceremony at VFW Post 3345 in the pages of this edition of The Strongsville Post. The Ehrnfelt Senior Center hosted individuals of a certain demographic, many of whom served this nation in the military, during a lunch on Nov. 9.
The Strongsville High School Cantorum performed songs like “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
Lt. Col. Larry Coyne, a 21-year Army veteran and Strongsville resident who spent tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, gave a presentation to the Rotary Club of Strongsville on Nov. 11.
Coyne served in the city of Ramadi in the Anbar Province of Iraq. He was given a rural neighborhood with the focus on sewers, water, electricity and trash.
“There were no buildings over one story, most didn’t have electricity and a lot of them didn’t have windows. It almost looked like the Flintstones’ house. Those that did have electricity only had it for a couple hours a day,” Coyne said.
Coyne’s job was to meet with officials and prioritize projects, such as bridges, roads and medical clinics at $25,000 to $100,000. Bids were put out and they had to be Iraqi contractors.
“While the projects were being done I had to be the inspector. I had to make sure they were using the proper materials and proper procedures as we laid out in the scope of work,” Coyne said.
Everything was paid in $100 bills. Coyne carried a safe wherever he went. He was audited once per month.
“The thing I joked about is that you could accidentally destroy somebody’s car and destroy their livestock, but if you lost one of those $100 bills your career was over,” Coyne said.
The military is unlike any faction of life know to man. Coyne displayed a photo of him in Iraq with fellow soldiers from Chicago, Houston, Boston and Dallas in full body armor that weighed 88 pounds.
“You get thrown together with people you’ve never met before, you get to know them really well and then you never see them again. That’s how it works from job to job and you get used to it,” Coyne said. “When I look at that picture I just remember how hot it was, about 130 degrees. Believe it or not, you get used to it.”
Autumn leaves
The city of Strongsville has added leaf collection days. Leaves for residents living north of state Route 82 (Royalton Road) will be collected Nov. 21-23 and Nov. 28-30. Leaves for residents living south of state Route 82 will be collected Dec. 1-2 and Dec. 5-8. Leaves should be raked to the curb for pickup the first day of collections for any given week. Once trucks collect on any given street they will not be back. Any uncollected leaves must be bagged and put out with that week’s trash for pickup.
Dispose of political signs
Ok, the election is over. Now, what do you do with all those political signs? You can take them to the dock at the city of Strongsville Service Center, 16099 Foltz Parkway. City employees will take them to a recycling center. Whether your candidate or issue won or lost, those signs can have another useful life.
Bicentennial moment
A look back on Strongsville history as the city celebrates its bicentennial this year: Did you know that Strongsville’s first tourist cabins were built in 1947 by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schafer near the southwest corner of Pearl and Royalton roads?