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‘What a circus’: eligible US voters on why they didn’t vote in the 2024 presidential election
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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"It doesn't matter" (and they're right) is always going to be the number one answer. Very few states actually have meaningful voting rights with respect to the presidential election. Lower races are sometimes more meaningful, but even then they're frequently forgone conclusions. The only votes I had that weren't a forgone conclusion was some municipal ballot measures.
And yet doing something is better than doing nothing. Everyone can't just assume that everyone else will do the right thing.
The whole reason theyre foregone conclusions is because people stay home. Someone link the map that shows non voters win most of the country.
No, they aren't. I know my local community. We're a blue state and going to vote blue. Just because someone is a non-voter doesn't mean they have radically different political beliefs than the rest of their community. They're usually listening to the same broadcasts, having the same social networks, and growing up with the same pervasive political biases. Some will diverge from the norm, but by and large non-voters simply don't care enough to form a new political opinion. For every besieged opposition voter with learned helplessness there are ten who if they were forced to make a decision will just reference the general prevailing opinion.
And yet everyone here bitches that the dems aren't left enough, etc. Imagine if non voters got off their asses and actually voted in the primaries.
I don't buy that nothing would change. Don't buy that at all.
Have you actually tried to talk to your non-voting friends about politics? An avidly political friend's boyfriend, when encouraged to register and be ready to vote, wanted to vote for a shitty Republican because his name sounded cool. Even the ones who aren't just outright dumb like this actively just avoid taking any position because they don't know what the politics are and don't want the responsibility of trying to learn. They default to very generally held sentiments and try to pick a name they've heard of before. They're not the sleeping activists you're dreaming of.
Im not saying theyre activists. I have and generally theyre uninterested (obviously) but would learn if they took the time to actually vote. That or their opinions line up with more left of center things but they aren't represented by that because they don't vote. (The experience is probably different given you live in a blue area and I in a purple one.)
Even if they don't, they should vote regardless. It's a civic duty.