Georgia's restaurant got a really great deal from her supplier. It would send her 1000 bulk dinners at a greatly reduced cost. The only catch was that they had to all be the same item.
So, Georgia took a poll of her customers, giving them a choice of ginger ham, macaroni and cheese, or bean soup. Her poll received 47.2% for ginger ham, 27.4% for macaroni and cheese, and 25.4% for bean soup.
Based on this poll she ordered 1000 dinners of ginger ham, the clear winner. She went broke on the order; she only sold a third of them. First, she neglected that most of the macaroni and cheese voters were vegetarians and most of the bean soup voters were vegans. Neither group would eat meat of any kind.
Only 13.2% of her regular customers voted. Those who wanted chili, fish, or spaghetti didn't even participate.
Sources of figures:
47.2% - percentage of votes cast for Newt Gingrich in the State of Georgia's 2012 Presidential Preference Primary as reported by the Secretary of State, http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/election_results/2012_0306/0005001.htm.
13.2% - turnout in Georgia for the 2012 Presidential Primary as reported by CNN at "As GOP Fight Continues, Turnout Numbers Lag",
Commentary:
In the 2008 election, John McCain received 52.2% of the vote in Georgia with 62.5% turnout, giving him 32.6% of the eligible voters. Using the same calculation, Gingrich received the votes in the 2012 primary in Georgia of 6.2% of the voters! And newspaper after newspaper has headlines about Gingrich "winning" in Georgia! Hey, journalists, the real winner was "none of the above"!
The 2008 vote and turnout figures are from "2008 General Election Turnout Rates" of the United States Election Project of George Mason University.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but remember to vote. If you don't vote, you give more weight to those voting for choices you wouldn't have made.
