Only 37% of eligible American citizens voted in all three of the most recent national general elections, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center – even though those elections saw some of the highest turnout in decades. The analysis, which tracked individual Americans’ voting decisions over the past six years, highlights both the limited share of the public that consistently votes, and the degree to which the fluctuations in turnout can alter the electoral landscape. The findings, taken in conjunction with other, sometimes-conflicting sources of election data, help to draw a more detailed profile of the 2022 electorate.
“Voters who were more favorable to Republican candidates turned out at higher rates compared with those who typically support Democrats,” the report’s authors write. “Shifting preferences among individual voters – though likely consequential in some races – was a much smaller factor in the 2022 midterms compared with turnout.”
I’m not American but the last 2 elections that they had I definitely wouldn’t of bothered voting . Trump vs Hilary and Trump vs Biden . In both cases I really didn’t care who won . I don’t think any of them actually care about the average American so why bother .
2024, is going to be the same thing as 2020 as trump still has a chance, desantis out here just getting demolished by trump while RFK Jr is just trying to disenfranchise the democratic party as none of his views fit democrats nor do they fit moderate republicans.
True, that’s what screwed the liberal republicans in the 1914 election, ted roosevelt opened a new party after losing to taft, and split the liberal vote causing woodrow wilson to win.
That’s what happens when democrats do the bare minimum when they get power while republicans can - for some reason - do so much more with the same power when they get in. People feeling that voting is pointless can see the trend. Baby steps forward when democrats get in and massive strides backward when republicans get in. The only way to actually move forward would be to get democrats in power in perpetuity which is impossible in our system. It’s designed that way. These people see two parties serving the rich first and foremost and can tell the natural consequence of that. That democrats throw a bone here or there changes little in the big picture.
By the way, between two parties gatekeeping the entire process and having representatives that don’t actually represent the masses, we never had democracy.
I don’t think you’re entirely wrong about none of them truly giving a shit about average Americans, but I would love it if you would reconsider the utility of voting at all. I’m a woman in Ohio with a trans kid, and the outcome of the last few state elections has directly affected us. Just like they weren’t playing around when they said they were coming for our rights, please know that they’re not kidding when they talk about banning pornography and birth control.
It’s one thing to not be actively helping as much as they promised (which is absolutely a thing that democrats do, I’m totally with you on that!), but it’s another thing entirely to be actively working to turn the United States into some kind of christofascist oligarchy. Please, pleasevote.
I’m also a woman from Ohio and a little worried about how few people I’ve talked to recently are aware of/ understand the magnitude of the upcoming special election.
Issue 1 would essentially take away majority representation in the state and only allow for special-interest and more polarized issues to come through.
Missouri resident here. We only got medical and recreational marijuana legalized through ballot initiatives because we have a backward state leglistaure like you!
Minority rule sucks.
Caring for average Americans is one thing, but assembling a government that is honest, inclusive and benefits the vast majority of citizens is most important; and there are HUGE differences between the candidates you mentioned! It’s this line of thinking that is causing so much apathy in our world today, and ultimately this will be humanity’s downfall.
And this idiocy is why we got Trump. We now have a stacked Supreme Court, Roe V Wade gone and more. Apathy will do no good. It’s better to do something than nothing. If Americans hadn’t voted in the last midterms, we’d be toast. And overall it’s not like it’s too much effort if planning ahead.
People plan ahead for vacations or Taylor Swift concerts. Why can’t they for preventing the collapse of their nation?
We got Trump because he wasn’t a beltway insider. Trump was able to sway independent voters simply because he wasn’t a career politician. Liberals, Greens, and progressives got tired of voting for moderate democrats who are ultimately conservative so they didn’t show up to vote.
We all know democrats take their voters for granted. It’s almost like ppl will stop voting for you if they feel ignored. Which is exactly what happened. Maybe a few years of Trump might be the kick in the pants our representatives needed
No, the reason trump won was because democrats ran a shit campaign. The party needs to stop blaming everyone but themselves when their garbage candidate fails to motivate voters. If you haven’t noticed, things were already not great before trump entered office and when people hear “but things will get even worse!!” they don’t care because they feel it’s already bad enough as is that it doesn’t matter. They want significant tangible improvement, not “at least we’re not the other guy”.
Hard to do any “significant tangible improvement” when half the government refuses to govern and (usually) has enough control to block any meaningful policy changes you do make
That’s the thing, republicans will pull all the stops to get what they want when they have power and block democrats when they don’t. Republicans actually fight. Democrats just let things happen, always claiming that their hands are tied (republican hands are never tied, apparently) and on top of that, democrat leaders will claim “we need a strong republican party” and espouse bipartisanship (you know, with the nazi republican party). I, and I’m sure many others, would love a party that actually fights for them.
I’m kinda checked out at this point . I’m too busy just trying to keep my rent paid and my lights on . Everyone I know just votes for Justin Trudeau because they think of they vote for someone else conservatives might win . Then turn around and complain that Trudeau is our prime minister.
I’m not American but the last 2 elections that they had I definitely wouldn’t of bothered voting . Trump vs Hilary and Trump vs Biden . In both cases I really didn’t care who won . I don’t think any of them actually care about the average American so why bother .
2016 led to a massive removal of civil rights. 2020 was a vote for or against democracy itself. There was an enormous reason to vote.
2024, is going to be the same thing as 2020 as trump still has a chance, desantis out here just getting demolished by trump while RFK Jr is just trying to disenfranchise the democratic party as none of his views fit democrats nor do they fit moderate republicans.
I still think the GOP requires a third party to drive votes away from Democrats to win.
True, that’s what screwed the liberal republicans in the 1914 election, ted roosevelt opened a new party after losing to taft, and split the liberal vote causing woodrow wilson to win.
That’s what happens when democrats do the bare minimum when they get power while republicans can - for some reason - do so much more with the same power when they get in. People feeling that voting is pointless can see the trend. Baby steps forward when democrats get in and massive strides backward when republicans get in. The only way to actually move forward would be to get democrats in power in perpetuity which is impossible in our system. It’s designed that way. These people see two parties serving the rich first and foremost and can tell the natural consequence of that. That democrats throw a bone here or there changes little in the big picture.
By the way, between two parties gatekeeping the entire process and having representatives that don’t actually represent the masses, we never had democracy.
I don’t think you’re entirely wrong about none of them truly giving a shit about average Americans, but I would love it if you would reconsider the utility of voting at all. I’m a woman in Ohio with a trans kid, and the outcome of the last few state elections has directly affected us. Just like they weren’t playing around when they said they were coming for our rights, please know that they’re not kidding when they talk about banning pornography and birth control.
It’s one thing to not be actively helping as much as they promised (which is absolutely a thing that democrats do, I’m totally with you on that!), but it’s another thing entirely to be actively working to turn the United States into some kind of christofascist oligarchy. Please, please vote.
I’m also a woman from Ohio and a little worried about how few people I’ve talked to recently are aware of/ understand the magnitude of the upcoming special election.
For anyone who’s interested: https://www.commoncause.org/ohio/democracy-wire/background-on-issue-1/
Issue 1 would essentially take away majority representation in the state and only allow for special-interest and more polarized issues to come through.
Missouri resident here. We only got medical and recreational marijuana legalized through ballot initiatives because we have a backward state leglistaure like you! Minority rule sucks.
Sorry you are going through that but I’m Canadian .
Caring for average Americans is one thing, but assembling a government that is honest, inclusive and benefits the vast majority of citizens is most important; and there are HUGE differences between the candidates you mentioned! It’s this line of thinking that is causing so much apathy in our world today, and ultimately this will be humanity’s downfall.
And this idiocy is why we got Trump. We now have a stacked Supreme Court, Roe V Wade gone and more. Apathy will do no good. It’s better to do something than nothing. If Americans hadn’t voted in the last midterms, we’d be toast. And overall it’s not like it’s too much effort if planning ahead.
People plan ahead for vacations or Taylor Swift concerts. Why can’t they for preventing the collapse of their nation?
We got Trump because he wasn’t a beltway insider. Trump was able to sway independent voters simply because he wasn’t a career politician. Liberals, Greens, and progressives got tired of voting for moderate democrats who are ultimately conservative so they didn’t show up to vote.
We all know democrats take their voters for granted. It’s almost like ppl will stop voting for you if they feel ignored. Which is exactly what happened. Maybe a few years of Trump might be the kick in the pants our representatives needed
You are the reason Trump won. If you can’t see the difference between Trump and Biden, then you weren’t paying attention
No, the reason trump won was because democrats ran a shit campaign. The party needs to stop blaming everyone but themselves when their garbage candidate fails to motivate voters. If you haven’t noticed, things were already not great before trump entered office and when people hear “but things will get even worse!!” they don’t care because they feel it’s already bad enough as is that it doesn’t matter. They want significant tangible improvement, not “at least we’re not the other guy”.
Hard to do any “significant tangible improvement” when half the government refuses to govern and (usually) has enough control to block any meaningful policy changes you do make
That’s the thing, republicans will pull all the stops to get what they want when they have power and block democrats when they don’t. Republicans actually fight. Democrats just let things happen, always claiming that their hands are tied (republican hands are never tied, apparently) and on top of that, democrat leaders will claim “we need a strong republican party” and espouse bipartisanship (you know, with the nazi republican party). I, and I’m sure many others, would love a party that actually fights for them.
Im Canadian sooo…
Which tells me you either weren’t paying attention or truly didn’t understand what a nightmare Trump and his ilk are.
Interesting. That’s certainly not the view of most non-Americans I know. To what extent do you actively follow politics?
I’m kinda checked out at this point . I’m too busy just trying to keep my rent paid and my lights on . Everyone I know just votes for Justin Trudeau because they think of they vote for someone else conservatives might win . Then turn around and complain that Trudeau is our prime minister.
There’s about one election per year in most places in the US, not just every four years for president.
Yes both sides are bad but republicans are still way worse…
It’s not like Biden is an amazing president but he’s doing a lot better than trump did and he’s fixing some of the stuff trump fucked up.