Rocco ' s always in the crowd cheering for Klay , don ' t you see ? <| sep |> I ' ve always thought the mandate thing was bullshit no matter which party says it . In 2008 Obama won huge against McCain compared to other recent elections , but even his victory only amounted to 52 . 9 % of the popular vote vs . 45 . 7 % for McCain . I ' m sorry but that ' s not a mandate , it ' s a little more than half . In my mind a mandate ought to mean at least like 6570 %. The idea that 52 % is a mandate is laughable . You listen on TV and you hear voters overwhelmingly voted for xxxxx . But that ' s just pure fiction according to the data . What the numbers show is that voters almost never give a mandatae for a President . Just to put in perspective Obama ' s 52 . 9 % mandate in 2008 Nixon won 60 % of the popular vote , and Reagan won 58 %. And even those really aren ' t mandates by any reasonable definition .