In a race as tight as this one, everything comes down to turnout. And that’s exactly what Democrats must be afraid of after seeing Gallup’s latest numbers. The GOP holds a distinct advantage in the likely voters for the November 8 elections — an 11-point advantage to be exact. For the president’s party, the percentage of Americans planning to head to the ballot booth is at a 16-year low, a drop that analysts blame on their “uninspiring choice” for president. Enthusiasm is significantly lagging for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, especially with young adults — who helped deliver the last two elections for Barack Obama. (Maybe Republicans aren’t the only ones rethinking another four years of this failed liberal experiment.)

“While Americans are giving a similar level of thought to the presidential election compared with previous years, the percentage saying they are certain they will vote is lagging,” Gallup explained. “This likely reflects the persistently poor images of both major party nominees, as well as Hillary Clinton’s difficulty in winning over the young adults who were much more favorable toward Bernie Sanders than toward her when Sanders was running for the Democratic nomination.” Gallup’s numbers paint a different story for Republicans, which, at 76 percent, is down a bit from past years, but still steady enough to give the GOP a double-digit lead in turnout.

“Still, by 76 percent to 65 percent, Republicans remain more likely than Democrats to say they will definitely vote, a gap that is similar to 2012 but higher than in previous elections,” experts at the survey house explain. “Further, the 65 percent of Democrats saying they will definitely vote is well below their average for the prior four presidential elections (77 percent), whereas the 76 percent of Republicans saying they will definitely vote is only a bit lower than their prior average (81 percent).” Bad news, Hillary, one headline read. “You’re looking less ‘inevitable’ every day.”

It’s an unusual predicament for Democrats, who were spoiled by the near-record turnout for Obama in the last two elections. In the last six weeks of the campaign, the president’s party certainly has its work cut out for it — especially when it comes to finding eligible voters (a distinction the Left rarely concerns itself with). The Democratic Party, whose creative ways to boost turnout include raising the dead (in Colorado dozens of corpses just found a way to vote, “despite the obstacle of no longer being alive”) and recruiting illegal immigrants to take advantage of the system. According to the Washington Post, more than 14 percent of illegal aliens in 2008 and 2010 indicated that they were registered to vote. In August, Clinton tried to build on those numbers, announcing a program that would help her raise up an army of undocumented “Dreamers” (which is code for non-citizens) to cast ballots.

Maybe that’s how Arcan Cetin knew to exercise a right meant for U.S. citizens. The case of the Cascade Mall gunman, who shot and killed five people in Washington State last week, took an interesting twist this week, when federal officials revealed that Cetin was a green card holder and not eligible to vote (something he did three times). That didn’t seem to matter in The Evergreen State, one of the many that doesn’t require proof of citizenship to take advantage of the greatest privilege of every American. Now, Arcan is staring down a $10,000 fine or five years in prison on top of what his murder sentence is.

“Our hands are kind of tied,” said one state official, “but make no mistake, we want to make sure that everybody has confidence that people casting ballots are eligible. This is certainly going to be a topic at next legislation.” Let’s hope so. In the meantime, Clinton’s camp will be comforted to know that Democrats may not be voting, but illegal immigrants certainly are!

Originally published here.

Military Drills Obama at Fort Lee

After more than seven and a half years on the job, the commander-in-chief finally decided to check in with his military. Demoralized and depleted, the president’s troops had plenty to say about the last eight years — not many of them flattering. The townhall-style meeting, held at Fort Lee, Virginia, was surprisingly frank, as active-duty service members unloaded on the administration after two terms of social experimentation, antiquated equipment, abysmal health care, and political correctness.

A lot of service members took issue with Obama’s refusal — not just to destroy radical Islam, but label it. One mom whose son was killed in Iraq in 2007 demanded to know “Why do you still refuse to use the term ‘Islamic terrorism?’” Obama replied that he didn’t want to compare the terrorists to “the billion Muslims… who are peaceful, who are responsible, who in this country are our fellow troops.” It didn’t get any easier after that, as questioners pushed him on the disgraceful treatment of our veterans, calling it “inexcusable” for the VA. The widow a veteran who died after waiting a year for a colonoscopy didn’t pull any punches when she asked, “So when are we going to actually start holding these contracted doctors and the VA employees accountable? …[I]t’s a difference between life and death. And families like mine, they’re tired of waiting. And the only true change that’s come since we began talking was that I am now a widow. And my family, we will never be the same.”

The president tried to explain that the issue was being taken care of, a claim which rings hollow years after the problem was first discovered. “We were using old systems where somebody would answer the phone, they’d write down, try to schedule it, then they’d hand it off to somebody who then would input it into some old, rickety computer … So we’re having to rebuild information systems, intake systems.” The aggressive questioning continued from a female Marine, who objects to sending women into combat after studies showed that women were more injury prone and units performed worse as a result. “Why were these tangible, negative consequences disregarded?” Obama quickly dismissed political correctness as the reason, then insisted, “I want to make sure our starting assumption is that if you can do the job, you should be able to get the job.”

For the military, the townhall was a unique opportunity to get some things off their chests. The real shame, however, is that the president didn’t start listening to his troops sooner. If there’s one thing we can all agree on: the next president is inheriting a huge mess on military readiness and national defense. FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin (U.S. Army-Ret.) spent 36 years in the military and says, “Morale is lower than I have ever seen it due to the social experiments and the assault on religious liberty. Good people are leaving and quality young men and women are discouraged from entering the services as they see what our armed forces have become and how they would be treated.” For these reasons, he writes, “I have very grave concerns about Hillary Clinton as the next commander-in-chief.” Read what those are in his new op-ed for Charisma.

Originally published here.