posted January 22, 2016 06:38 PM            

Trump's natal NN conjunct his Sun and SN conjunct his Moon, plus a Venus-Saturn conjunction suggests to me that he is likely to be more popular with men than women voters. He is popular with Republican women, but not with independents and Democrats, which is significant in terms of a general election.

A Gallup poll conducted over a period covering six weeks between December and January, 2016, shows Trump with a -27% net favorability rating among independents, and a -70% net rating among Democrats, ranking him last in the GOP field.

But favorability ratings can vary widely from pollster to pollster, according to Nate Silver at Five Thirty Eight dot com. Using a broader array of data, Silver's findings show that Trump's favorability rating is 33%, compared to an unfavorable rating of 58%, or a net rating of -25 percentage points.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has a favorability rating of 38, unfavorable rating of 35, for a net favorable rating of +3.

Hillary Clinton has a favorability rating of 42, unfavorable 50, for a net of -8.

According to Nate Silver, this data shows that contrary to what Clinton supporters and Democratic pundits are saying, Sanders and not Clinton has a better chance to win against the GOP in a general election.

As for the GOP nomination, the Republic Convention is scheduled for July 18-21 in Cleveland, OH. Trump has transiting Jupiter and NN in the 1H, and transiting Sun conjunct Venus, ruler of his MC. Transiting Saturn is not in orb for an opposition to natal Uranus, which is fortunate for him. The ASC-DSC and MC-IC axes are also highlighted by progressions and directions. Progressed Sun is conjunct nASC, solar arc Moon is conjunct his DSC, and solar arc Uranus squares the MC-IC. Progressed NN trines natal Jupiter.

Also, Trump's Solar Return for 2016 shows Jupiter conjunct NN trine Pluto, and Uranus conjunct the MC sextile Sun-Venus in the 11H. All of this looks favorable for him getting the GOP nomination.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-really-unpopular-with-ge neral-election-voters/

posted January 24, 2016 08:31 PM            

:...the point is that while idealism is fine and essential [Neptune] — you have to dream of a better world [Neptune]— it’s not a virtue unless it goes along with hardheaded realism about the means that might achieve your ends [Saturn]. That’s true even when, like F.D.R., you ride a political tidal wave into office. It’s even more true for a modern Democrat, who will be lucky if his or her party controls even one house of Congress at any point this decade.
Sorry, but there’s nothing noble about seeing your values defeated because you preferred happy dreams to hard thinking about means and ends. Don’t let idealism veer into destructive self-indulgence [Saturn square Neptune]."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/opinion/how-change-happens.html?_r=0

Hillary Clinton, speaking recently in Iowa said: "I don't want to over promise. I don't want to come out with theories and concepts that may or may not be possible. We don't need any more of that. What we need is a sensible, achievable agenda where we roll up our sleeves and we work together."

She has criticized Bernie Sanders in specific terms on his single payer health care plan. With polls in New Hampshire and Iowa showing Sanders ahead by 27 points and 8 points respectively, Clinton has gone on offense, mischaracterizing Sanders' plan as tearing down the current system and, for example, turning over Medicare to the states, whereas Sanders is calling for the expansion of Medicare.

She is presenting herself in this campaign as she did in 2008 as the experienced and pragmatic realist [Saturn] against Sanders who is calling for a "political revolution" [Uranus-Pluto], trying to, as she and Krugman see it, sell the American people on utopian "happy dreams." [Neptune]

Someone who has known her for 30 years was interviewed on tv recently (sorry, don't recall the name) was asked what her mindset is now. His response was that she feels "it's her turn." That she's paid her dues, she's put up with Bill, and now it's her turn. Well, in terms of the spirit of the times, or in astrological terms, a Uranus-Pluto cycle, she is correct. Women and women's issues are advanced during this particular cycle and a woman becoming president of the United States would be a direct correlation with this cycle. But, if this person on tv is right and he is privy to her state of mind, then she's also wrong because she's taking this historical moment as a personal entitlement, when it's not.

posted January 24, 2016 09:07 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Catalina:

I guess if you like unfavourable ratings it looks good.

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No, what makes for "looking good" are Trump's transits and progressions and that he is the front runner in the Republican primary, even though he's at the bottom as far as favorability ratings in the GOP field.

posted January 25, 2016 12:31 PM            

As to Sanders he may sound idealistic but he has proved in practice to be also a smart politician, who knows how Washington works. With hindsight he has proven consistent and almost prescient in his estimation of where our finanancial and military decisions were taking us. I DON'T agree with everything he says any more than I have agreed or approved of everything Obama has done or said but I agree that govt needs to be for people not corporations and bankers...among other things.

As to astrology Pluto is applying to the US natal Pluto for the next several years. Restructuring of gov and corporate arenas is on the table and Uranus will square that natal Pluto on the way there. Dog eat dog (Trump) is the wrong flavour and hopefully the voters will not fall for the chauvinistic authoritarian routine Germany went along with in the thirties to "make Germany great again".. and Jupiter trine Pluto can easily translate into overplaying the ruthless intimidating stance he is espousing.

posted January 26, 2016 04:06 PM            

Bernie Sanders wouldn't win even if every single person in the country voted for him.

The Establishment decides.

We only have the illusion of choice and power.

posted January 27, 2016 03:59 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Randall:
A Trump v. Sanders race would be exciting!

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posted January 27, 2016 04:33 PM            

“When pollsters match Sanders against the four top-polling Republican hopefuls, on average he does better than Clinton does against each of them—even though she, like Bush, is supposed to be ‘best positioned’ to ‘capture the broad, sensible center,’ according to the Tribune."
http://commondreams.org/views/2016/01/27/spin-shift-bernie-escalating-media-assault

Speaking of this "broad, sensible center," as if the "center" is a fixed point, is mistaken. The "center" shifts according to planetary cycles. This is obvious, at least to astrologers, in this election cycle when the two candidates ahead in the polls is neither Jed Bush nor Hillary Clinton.

During Saturn-Pluto cycles, when Pluto intensifies and empowers Saturn, we see the empowerment of conservatives and issues like national security become dominant in the collective psyche. We tend to be more conservative during this cycle. Whereas, during a Urarus-Pluto cycle, Pluto intensifies and empowers Uranus. The so-called "center" shifts accordingly. During a Uranus-Pluto cycle, we see popular support for women's rights, civil rights, youth movements, radical and populist movements, both left and right.

posted January 27, 2016 04:39 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Catalina:
As to astrology Pluto is applying to the US natal Pluto for the next several years. Restructuring of gov and corporate arenas is on the table and Uranus will square that natal Pluto on the way there.

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Thanks for bringing up the U.S. Pluto return. Maybe we'll see a second American revolution, hopefully non-violent, by then.

posted January 27, 2016 05:42 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
The Establishment decides.

We only have the illusion of choice and power.

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Well, it's true that this is the current state of American politics. But, I disagree that we have no choice and power, unless and until we act to oppose it, and that requires a movement and a sustained effort over decades, which we have not had and do not have at the moment.

quote:

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Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.

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Gandhi

posted January 27, 2016 10:07 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by peony:
Well, it's true that this is the current state of American politics. But, I disagree that we have no choice and power, unless and until we act to oppose it, and that requires a movement and a sustained effort over decades, which we have not had and do not have at the moment.

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Good point

My way of opposing it is by refusing to even vote.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

I want NO ONE at those polls until the electronic voting systems are out. Totally ridiculous.

And I hate the two-party system.

I see elections as a disgusting and morally unconscionable waste of time, money, and attention. We could be feeding the hungry with all the millions and millions that go into this petty race.

Tr Mercury conjunct tr Pluto conjunct my sun...

posted January 27, 2016 11:38 PM            

It's the way the people figured out how to collectively solve our problems outside the rules, dramatically changing the "playing field" by force of cooperation.

That was how Gandhi and his followers won back India: non-violent protest.

What would happen if everyone just refused to keep playing the game, as the powers that be designed it?

posted January 28, 2016 12:20 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
Good point

My way of opposing it is by refusing to even vote.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

I want NO ONE at those polls until the electronic voting systems are out. Totally ridiculous.

...

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This is something I've had a passing experience with professionally. Blame the public's demand of instant gratification by having up to the second vote counts on the news. Blame the insistence of the "us" vs "them" two party system to demand that "our" candidate could never lose. But the tool of electronic voting is neither more or less susceptible to vote tampering than the paper fed ballot box, hanging chads and all.

posted January 28, 2016 01:36 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
It's not really the voting machine protest that would solve things....

It's the way the people figured out how to collectively solve our problems outside the rules, dramatically changing the "playing field" by force of cooperation.

That was how Gandhi and his followers won back India: non-violent protest.

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Yes, and another great example is Vaclav Havel and the non-violent Velvet Revolution that ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s.

quote:

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What would happen if everyone just refused to keep playing the game, as the powers that be designed it?

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I'm not sure it would require every person in the U.S., but large numbers of people certainly, as in a general strike, for example. Without the consent of the governed, the game can't continue.

quote:

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That's what I wonder about...and I dream about the peaceful revolution that would take place, if we all availed ourselves of our freedoms, in the wisest way, to bring the fastest change.

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Well said, Faith. Based on what we've seen in 2008 and are seeing once again, this is a dream that resonates with millions of people and remains to be fulfilled.

posted January 28, 2016 03:31 AM            

First of all, by way of comparison, FDR, who is the only U.S. president who served four terms, has 11 conjunctions and four squares, including his Sun and Moon conjunct the U.S. Moon-Sun respectively.

Hillary Clinton has five squares, four oppositions, and two conjunctions, not counting her Moon since we don't have a reliable TOB for her. Clinton's Sun in Scorpio squares the U.S. Pluto in late Capricorn. Her Mars-Pluto-Saturn stellium in Leo opposes the U.S. Moon in Aquarius, and her NN and SN square the U.S. Moon, which I think reflects the distrust and unpopularity she has with many voters. Perhaps most significantly I think, her Sun also squares the U.S. nodes, so I'm skeptical of how attuned she is to where our country needs to move into the future and her leadership of the country at this moment in our history. But that's just my interpretation of this aspect. Compare Clinton to FDR who had NN exactly trine the U.S. NN and sextile the U.S. SN.

posted January 28, 2016 11:59 AM            

You will never get everyone to vote or to abstain so abstaining is just accepting impotence lying down. Voting is at least putting your preference "out there". Rigged or not if you dont vote You're not in position to complain about the outcome.

The local and state votes are perhaps more important than the national..as witness what is going on in the States currently.

posted January 28, 2016 07:11 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Catalina:
Rigged or not if you dont vote You're not in position to complain about the outcome.

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posted January 28, 2016 07:29 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by peony:
Looking at candidates' charts and the synastry with the U.S. Gemini rising chart, some interesting things came out of it.

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Thank you peony!

So interesting.

quote:

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Originally posted by peony:
Based on what we've seen in 2008 and are seeing once again, this is a dream that resonates with millions of people and remains to be fulfilled.

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Maybe it's an issue of "strike the shepherd scatter the flock."

But..."the shepherd" would have to be someone who resonated with a lot of people and could get them to cooperate, in an extreme kind of way. Typically people will only change their habits under force of religious or deep intellectual conviction. Gandhi had the people making their own cloths, spinning their own cloth, changing their idea of how critical the concept of fashion was, just to gain freedom. Would Americans ever go to those lengths, willing to change for Change?

Gandhi was a student of Thoreau, of Civil Disobedience fame. You know, in many ways (but not all) it's a lot harder to practice civil disobedience now, than it was then. The laws are more numerous and draconian than in Thoreau's day.

posted January 28, 2016 07:48 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Gemini Blues:
But the tool of electronic voting is neither more or less susceptible to vote tampering than the paper fed ballot box, hanging chads and all.

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"hanging chads"

True, but the oversight of paper ballots could be done by anyone who can count, whereas the oversight of voting machines can only be done by the "keepers of knowledge"...it's fundamentally less democratic, and that just grates on me. Plus, didn't Diebold get caught in numerous seedy dealings before?
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/24/atm_company_diebold_charged_with_bribery_falsifying_d ocs/

Yuck

quote:

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Originally posted by Gemini Blues:
Be the change? Then vote!

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But...everybody votes...and nothing changes the way we want it to...

Trump is right, I think, about the politicians just being the servants of lobbyists and the people who funded their campaigns.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gemini Blues:
Refuse to accept the lesser of two evils. Write in a candidate.

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I did that in 2008, 2012...I don't see anyone running for President who is worth writing in, now.

What I'm saying is, could we all "vote" for a new voting system by boycotting the vote? Would that have more power than voting? I just wonder.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gemini Blues:
Convince others that a vote for someone else is *not* a wasted vote. Currently, a write in is no better than an under vote, discarded in the results. But if 5%, 10%, 25% of the votes were write ins, some political consultant will notice and start to craft a plan and draft a candidate to win those votes! At least, such is my dream...

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posted January 29, 2016 06:43 AM            

Trump is ahead on the GOP side. As for the Democratic primary, the polls show it's virtually tied between Clinton and Sanders.

Astrologically, Sanders will be going through a nodal return, which indicates a major turning point in his life, a Saturn transit square his Sun, which could mean a setback or could indicate low vitality. But, he also has transiting Jupiter conjunct his NN, which indicates good spirits.