Anything can happen during an election. That’s especially true during Mercury Retrograde — a time when astrology followers grumble and groan at the havoc wreaked on our lives. During a heated elections season, fundraising dollars are a hot commodity, but answers are just as important. Especially since astrology transits have not been so good to some politicians (and some elections) in the past. But transits can also help you succeed if you look for the right signs.
So what are some of the positive benefits that a transit with such a bad reputation, like Mercury Retrograde, can have in our lives, and can it actually be an advantage for politicians right now? We did some digging and found 3 ways that Mercury Retrograde has actually changed political elections — this is going to blow you away!
What is Mercury Retrograde?
When in retrograde, the planet Mercury — which rules communication, contracts, messages, paperwork, legal matters and transportation — appears to move backwards. In a nutshell, that’s what Mercury Retrograde is. Though Mercury doesn’t actually move backwards. It just slows down, and the rest is an optical illusion.
So yes, If Mercury Retrograde can crash your computer and break down your car, it can also affect the polls. And there are many examples of elections wrinkles in American history during a Mercury Retrograde. Coincidence? We don’t believe in coincidences here, but we’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
1) Mitt Romney’s binders full of women (2012)
Aw bless, who doesn’t remember the “binders full of women” comment? Mercury Retrograde occurred during the 2012 election and, as you can guess, it did not seem to favor Mitt Romney — the source of the tagline, which we’ll always be entertained by.
There were two leading candidates for the 2012 United States presidential election. Barack Obama (Leo) and Mitt Romney (Pisces). And it was right around March that year during a Mercury Retrograde period when Mitt Romney’s campaign began to slide. Aside from claiming to have “binders full of women” to choose from to fill his cabinet, Mitt delivered his plan to cut funding to PBS, specifically mentioning the children’s staple, Sesame Street. This led to a social media outcry in support of Sesame Street and its flagship character, Big Bird. That’s when things began moving backwards for him.
On March 12, 2012, Mercury went retrograde in Aries, but went direct in Pisces on April 4. That was a good day for Mitt. It went retrograde again on July 14 in the sign of Leo, and that’s when Obama began experiencing some trouble and slid in the polls. When Mercury went direct in Leo on August 8, that is when Obama’s polls began to climb, and move forward.
By November 6, election day, Mercury Retrograde occurred in the Fire Sign of Sagittarius. Astrologers knew well before election day that boded well for Mr. Obama and that he had a good shot at the BIG win, because all of the people that were on the fence would backpedal in his direction come election day.
In the end, Big Bird and friends fared fine, and those binders seemed to be lost in Mercury Retrograde. Had election day been held off until November 26, when Mercury went direct in Scorpio, the astrology climate would have favored Mitt Romney’s Water Sign, the Pisces. He may have even won, but we will never know.
2) Bush, Gore, and the election all-nighter (2000)
Please raise your hands if you stayed up all night wondering if George Bush (Cancer) or Al Gore (Aries) was going to win the election. And do you know what Mercury was doing all night? The backstroke in retrograde! Coincidence?
It was one of the weirdest elections of American history. By the time all of the votes were cast, both candidates won! How is that even possible? One candidate, Al Gore, won the popular vote. The other, George Bush, won the electoral vote. To win the Oval Office, you have to have the electoral votes. So sorry, Al Gore — thanks for coming out. And amid all of this confusion, we didn’t even learn the results on that night.
This was an election that actually went to the Supreme Court, and it all came down to Florida, at first. By 10 p.m. on November 6, George Bush was declared the winner of Florida. By 2:30 a.m., Al Gore called George Bush and conceded the election. Then he retracted his decision by 4:30 a.m. when the votes had been recounted. Thirty-six days later, one Supreme Court decision and some inconvenient truths for Al Gore, and George Bush eventually won the Oval Office. More Americans actually voted for Al Gore than George Bush, and Al still lost the election. Crazy! That trickster Mercury!
3) Mr. Watergate, you have some explaining to do (1960)
If someone were to ask you about the 1960 election between one of America’s most beloved Presidents, John F. Kennedy (Gemini), and America’s not so beloved, Richard Nixon (Capricorn), you would probably think that good ol’ JFK won by a landslide. And you would be wrong. In fact, JFK won by only 0.1% of the vote. It was the closest election in American history (even tighter than Al Gore and George Bush). Is it just another coincidence that happened during Mercury Retrograde?
Kennedy had the Mercury advantage here because Gems are ruled by Mercury. Richard Nixon, the Capricorn, had an uphill battle to begin with from an astrological standpoint. On November 8, 1960, Mercury was retrograde. It’s possible that the election was so close because JFK’s numbers slid a little under Mercury’s slower retrograde effects.
This was another election where Americans spent the entire night hearing the phrase “too close to call.” Many media outlets had retractions prepared in case the candidate who was called didn’t actually end up winning. The official concession speech by Richard Nixon didn’t happen until noon the next day when the same media outlets were demanding his concession speech.
On June 17, 1972, twelve years later, Mr. Nixon would resign from the Oval Office after the great Watergate scandal, when the Sun was in Gemini. Gemini has never been good to Nixon! He took two whole years to explain himself away from that one too.
The 2016 U.S. election: Can history repeat itself?
Of the 43 Presidents in the United States, 5 of them have been Scorpios — more than any other zodiac sign. This works in favor of the October 26-born Hillary Clinton. Looking towards the November 8 election in the U.S. we’re seeing a lot of Water Sign activity, which is not so compatible with Donald Trump (Gemini). With no Mercury Retrograde during the actual election time, the stage is set for an exciting and eventful day at the polls.