Congress Infinity v. 2.8.4b released!

Congress Infinity v. 2.8.4b for Windows and Mac has been released!

This updates the Senate 2018 campaign, including tightening Texas, Tennessee, Montana, and New Jersey, adding Fmr. Gov. Gary Johnson as an independent in New Mexico, completes all the official Senate candidates, and more.

If you are a Congress Infinity owner on subscription (or if you purchased Congress Infinity within the last year), you are eligible for this upgrade.

This is a comprehensive update.

You can download this release by requesting a download e-mail at the link below.

To update:

http://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/

Version information:

https://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/congress-infinity-version-information/

What’s new in this upgrade

  • Senate 2018 > Connecticut-1 > Republican -> Matthew Corey, Delaware-1 > Republican -> Rob Arlett, Hawaii-1 > Republican -> Ron Curtis, Massachusetts-1 > Republican -> Geoff Diehl, Michigan-1 > Republican -> John James, Rhode Island-1 > Republican -> Robert Flanders, Vermont-1 > Republican -> Lawrence Zupan, Wisconsin-1 > Republican > Kevin Nicholson -> Leah Vukmir
  • Senate 2018 > Arizona-3 > John McCain -> Jon Kyl
  • Senate 2018 > Indiana-1 > 50D-50R -> 52D-48R
  • Senate 2018 > Maine-1 > 55I-45R -> 60I-40R
  • Senate 2018 > Massachusetts-1 > 60D-40R -> 65D-35R
  • Senate 2018 > Michigan-1 > 55D-45R -> 58D-42R
  • Senate 2018 > Minnesota-2 > 55D-45R -> 54D-46R
  • Senate 2018 > Montana-1 > 55D-45R -> 53D-47R
  • Senate 2018 > New Jersey-1 > 58D-32R -> 53D-47R
  • Senate 2018 > New York-1 > 70D-30R -> 65D-35R
  • Senate 2018 > Pennsylvania-1 > 55D-45R -> 57D-43R
  • Senate 2018 > Tennessee-1 > 52R-48D -> 50R-50D
  • Senate 2018 > Texas-1 > 55R-45D -> 52R-48D
  • Senate 2018 > Utah-1 > 70R-30D -> 65R-35D
  • Senate 2018 > Virginia-1 > 55D-45R -> 58D-42R
  • Senate 2018 > West Virginia-1 > 50D-50R -> 54D-46R
  • Senate 2018 > Wisconsin-1 > 55D-45R -> 54D-46R
  • Senate 2018 > election Nov. 8th -> Nov. 6th
  • Senate 2018 > added Gary Johnson
  • Senate 2018 > New Mexico-1 > added Gary Johnson
  • Senate 2018 > New Mexico-1 > 39D-21I-11R
  • Senate 2018 > New Mexico-1 > Republican candidate strength 2 -> 1
  • Senate 2018 > Bernie Sanders > leader image > Independent -> Bernie Sanders
  • Senate 2018 > Angus King > leader image > Independent -> Angus King

Call for California – 2018 – Gubernatorial designers

Hi everyone,

Want to help create the best California gubernatorial campaign yet? I’m moving forward on the California 2018 gubernatorial campaign. If you are interested in helping with the campaign (as a volunteer), please e-mail me.

https://270soft.com/contact

I’m looking for people who either have some experience with campaign design (can use the President Infinity Editor) or people who have expertise in California politics and are following the gubernatorial campaign (or are interested in learning about it).

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Prime Minister Infinity – Canada – Version 2.7.9b

Prime Minister Infinity – Canada – v. 2.7.9b for Windows and Mac has been released, and now includes Quebec – 2018! Legault vs. Couillard vs. Lisée vs. Massé.

Will Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec continue their surge and form the next government? Or can the Liberals stage a comeback and be re-elected? Will the Parti Québécois stage an upset?

This update includes

  • adds Quebec 2018

If you are a Prime Minister Infinity – Canada owner on subscription, you are eligible for this upgrade.

This is a comprehensive update.

You can download this release by requesting a download e-mail at the link below.

To update:

http://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/

Version information:

http://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/prime-minister-infinity-canada-version-information

Quebec 2018 campaign preview

Here’s a screenshot from the Quebec – 2018 provincial campaign forthcoming for Prime Minister Infinity – Canada owners on subscription.

There’s still some work to be done on the campaign before initial release, but release will probably happen within the week. As you can see, the Coalition Avenir Quebec, which currently holds only 21 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly, is leading in the polls at the start of the campaign.

Goals for next releases – Autumn 2018

All dates are estimates. All features are goals, not promises. List subject to revision.

  • For President Infinity, United States – 2020 is planned for Winter 2018-2019 release, after the mid-terms.
  • Networking is planned for after that (Spring or Summer 2019), and applies for all products.

President Infinity – October 15th

  1. Favorability (each voter has a numeric value rating each candidate, important for modeling > 2 candidate election dynamics or systems where candidates withdraw, such as primaries or two-round runoff systems such as France’s)
  2. Candidate attributes will use a 0-10 system, instead of 1-5 (allows for more distinctions between candidates)
  3. California Governor – 2018 official campaign added
  4. Map will have pop-up information when mouse-over, so don’t have to click on it to view %s
  5. Can modify size of windows (for displays with high resolutions)
  6. High DPI support (text for the game will show properly on monitors with high DPI, instead of being fuzzy from being scaled up by the operating system)

Congress Infinity – October 15th (early September)

  1. See President Infinity 1., 2., 4.-6.
  2. Updates to Senate 2018 and House 2018 (early September)

Prime Minister Infinity – U.K. – November 30th

  1. See President Infinity 1., 2., 4.-6.
  2. Preferences added for Australia.

Prime Minister Infinity – Canada – November 30th (early September)

  1. Quebec 2018 official campaign added (early September)
  2. See President Infinity 1., 2., 4.-6.
  3. Preferences added for Australia.

Feedback welcome!

Congress Infinity v. 2.8.4 released!

Congress Infinity v. 2.8.4 for Windows and Mac has been released!

Updates from the previous official release include

  • adds House 2018
  • updates Senate 2018 races
  • improves computer player AI
  • improves the Editor
  • and more

This is a comprehensive update.

You can download this release by requesting a download e-mail at the link below.

To update:

http://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/

Version information:

https://270soft.com/updates-redownloads/congress-infinity-version-information/

What’s new in this upgrade

  • added House 2018
  • Senate 2018 > updated candidates > Washington (R), Wyoming (D), Nebraska (D), Utah (D), New Mexico (R), Minnesota (2 Rs), Indiana (R), West Virginia (R), Maryland (R), New Jersey (R), New York (R)
  • Senate 2018 > updated issues
  • Editor > Regions > fundamental regions > added exemptions for shifts, for regions where you want to specify %s without the shifts
  • computer players now make more ads
  • Editor > Basics > Constants and Coefficients > added Fundraising coefficient
  • Editor > Regions > Issues > added ‘Set All Issues’ button, to set all issues for a region to specified center
  • Editor > Regions > Parties > if editing %s but have Editor > Polling > Use Polls on, text indicates using polling
  • Editor > Basics > More > can set Elected Leader Position (ex. “Prime Minister”), Institution (ex. “Parliament”), Appointed by (ex. “Governor General”)
  • Editor > can set credits, button appears on Select Campaign Screen if set
  • Select Leader Screen > if only 1 leader, Change Leader button disabled
  • Editor > Regions > fixed bug if tried to delete secondary region with just one tertiary region
  • Editor > Regions > Map > can right click to set abbreviation coordinates
  • Editor > Regions > if edit id, checks if unique, if not, adds unique identifier (ex. “_2”)
  • Editor > Regions > Map > fixed tab ordering
  • Editor > Regions > if change region abbreviation and then go to map, abbreviation updated
  • Editor > Leaders > if edit id, check if unique, if not, adds unique identifier (ex. “_2”)
  • Editor > Regions > Map > can show all abbreviations
  • Editor > Issues > if edit id, checks if unique, if not, adds unique identifier (ex. “_2”)

 

Congress Infinity next release sneak-peek v. 2.8.3, Windows

This adds House 2018, updates Senate 2018 races, improves computer player AI, improves the Editor, and more. Details below.

You can download it by clicking the button below for Windows.

Note: House 2018 district-by-district issue centers haven’t been added yet, and Senate 2018 issues will be updated to largely match the House 2018 ones.

Download Now!

Note: Requires you already have the game installed.

Feedback welcome!

New since previous release

  • added House 2018
  • Senate 2018 > updated candidates > Washington (R), Wyoming (D), Nebraska (D), Utah (D), New Mexico (R), Minnesota (2 Rs), Indiana (R), West Virginia (R), Maryland (R), New Jersey (R), New York (R)
  • Editor > Regions > fundamental regions > added exemptions for shifts, for regions where you want to specify %s without the shifts
  • computer players now make more ads
  • Editor > Basics > Constants and Coefficients > added Fundraising coefficient
  • Editor > Regions > Issues > added ‘Set All Issues’ button, to set all issues for a region to specified center
  • Editor > Regions > Parties > if editing %s but have Editor > Polling > Use Polls on, text indicates using polling
  • Editor > Basics > More > can set Elected Leader Position (ex. “Prime Minister”), Institution (ex. “Parliament”), Appointed by (ex. “Governor General”)
  • Editor > can set credits, button appears on Select Campaign Screen if set
  • Select Leader Screen > if only 1 leader, Change Leader button disabled
  • Editor > Regions > fixed bug if tried to delete secondary region with just one tertiary region
  • Editor > Regions > Map > can right click to set abbreviation coordinates
  • Editor > Regions > if edit id, checks if unique, if not, adds unique identifier (ex. “_2”)
  • Editor > Regions > Map > fixed tab ordering
  • Editor > Regions > if change region abbreviation and then go to map, abbreviation updated
  • Editor > Leaders > if edit id, check if unique, if not, adds unique identifier (ex. “_2”)
  • Editor > Regions > Map > can show all abbreviations
  • Editor > Issues > if edit id, checks if unique, if not, adds unique identifier (ex. “_2”)

 

 

What’s going to happen between now and Nov. 6th, 2018

Trying to anticipate what things will look like on November 6th, what are some things that are going to happen between now and then? We have about 105 days.

  1. Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh (late August to September).
  2. Ongoing Mueller Special Counsel investigation.
  3. Further FBI Inspector General report.
  4. Ongoing Congressional Oversight investigations.

Are there other potentially significant things that are going to happen or have a significant chance of happening between now and then?

The will of the voters in first-past-the-post systems

Much has been made of how Donald Trump received fewer votes than Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, with some calling into question the legitimacy of his government because he didn’t receive the majority of support of voters. Specifically, he got 45.93%.

That’s an interesting argument, and especially so where I live, as the federal government in Canada has a majority of seats but received less, at 39.47% of the vote. So, according to this argument, Trudeau’s government has less legitimacy than Trump’s.

I think these sorts of post hoc arguments aren’t very persuasive. The Trudeau government campaigned in a system with specific rules which allow for parties with less than a majority vote (and sometimes not even the most votes) to form a majority government. Similarly, Trump’s strategy was based on the specific rules of the U.S.’s electoral college system. If there’s a problem, it’s at a higher level, in terms of electoral reform.

Having said that, one thing that’s interesting about the Trump-Clinton 2016 election is that Clinton didn’t get a majority, either. Rather, she received 48.02% of the vote. A majority of voters didn’t vote for her, either.

So, which candidate would the majority of voters have preferred, if they could transfer their vote with ranked choice? If you add up Trump, Johnson (Libertarians tend to be closer to Republicans than Democrats), and McMullin (closer to the Republican party than Democratic), you get 49.73%. If you add up Clinton and Stein (Greens tend to be closer to Democrats than Republicans), you get 49.08%. The remainder is various write-in ballots.

So, the right-wing bloc was larger than the left-wing bloc. If the U.S. had direct popular vote with ranked choice and instant run-off, which candidate would have won?

The answer is: we don’t know. Some of the people who voted for one of the smaller percentage candidates might not have ranked another candidate. For example, many people who voted Green might have done so because they excluded all the other options. Similarly, although McMullin was a protest candidate against Trump, it’s not clear how many people who voted for him would have supported Trump next. Similarly with Libertarians.