Market Saturation & Turnout

Six Bloomberg mailers. In one week.

Despite what was, to outside observers like myself, a “sexy” election, Tuesday’s special congressional election in New York’s 23rd district drew below-average turnout. Why? One thought:

While visiting the area, I heard two candidate ads on a local radio station in the space of 15 minutes. Both pushed the limits of decency. I talked to voters who left for work at 8:30 in the morning, and came home at 5:30 to seven voice mail messages — all candidate robocalls. The perception that Doug Hoffman was responsible for bringing this hellfire down on the 23rd district was palpable, unequivocally correct, and likely contributed to his loss, with overall turnout suffering in kind.

Thanks to newly re-elected Mayor Bloomberg, who also had a harder election night than he expected, citizens of the Five Boroughs will understand the sentiment (see above). Well-armed politicians should take note.