The numbers for November 4, 2014
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The numbers for November 4, 2014
It’s Election Day in the U.S., and the biggest influence on midterm elections might not be the last-minute surge of super PAC money or robo-calls, but how voters think the economy is doing.
In tight, state-level races, we’ve seen candidates on both sides trying to steer the narrative of economic recovery. The New York Times’ Upshot took a deep dive, showing that while there’s decent evidence to suggest that the state of the economy influences presidential elections, midterms are all about perspective. And that perspective is historically very, very partisan.
FiveThirtyEight gives the Republicans a 76 percent chance of winning the senate Tuesday.
Here’s a Google Maps-powered tool for finding your polling place. And as we wait for final results, here are some other numbers we’re watching:
Xiaomi’s valuation in an upcoming round of fundraising, according to Bloomberg. The world’s third-largest smartphone maker was valued at $10 billion in its last round of financing in August 2013. Xiaomi has seen huge growth in the past year, and just announced it will invest $1 billion in developing online video for its smart TVs.
That’s last year’s estimated market for cloud computing. It’s expected to grow to $42 billion by 2018. This huge emerging market is the latest battleground in the growing rivalry between Amazon and Google. The former leads in the space, the Wall Street Journal reported, but Google is expected to re-up its cloud offerings soon to try and slow Amazon’s rapid growth.
The number of new drivers Uber claims to hire every month, and the number of veterans the car service seeks to hire under its UberMILITARY initiative. The plan has support from the Department of Defense and former military officials, but an investigation by the Verge found that the initiative might be a raw deal for veterans.
Several UberMILITARY “partners” have said they don’t make nearly as much as they were promised thanks to expenses and inconsistent pricing structures. Others have noted Uber’s propensity to fire low-rated drivers at the drop of a hat: One Navy vet and single mother of seven said she’s put up with sexual harassment from passengers in order to keep her driver rating high.
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