219

The 2024 US presidential election had been widely characterized as one of the most consequential political contests in recent US history. Although turnout was high for a presidential election – almost matching the levels of 2020 – it is estimated that close to 90 million Americans, roughly 36% of the eligible voting age population, did not vote. This number is greater than the number of people who voted for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.

More than a month on from polling day, eligible US voters from across the country as well as other parts of the world got in touch with the Guardian to share why they did not vote.

Scores of people said they had not turned out as they felt their vote would not matter because of the electoral college system, since they lived in a safely blue or red state. This included a number of people who nonetheless had voted in the 2020 and 2016 elections.

While various previous Democratic voters said they had abstained this time due to the Harris campaign’s stance on Israel or for other policy reasons, a number of people in this camp said they would have voted for the vice-president had they lived in a swing state.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 12 points 4 days ago

"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.

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 6 points 4 days ago

And yet doing something is better than doing nothing. Everyone can't just assume that everyone else will do the right thing.

[-] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago

The whole reason theyre foregone conclusions is because people stay home. Someone link the map that shows non voters win most of the country.

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 0 points 2 days ago

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.

[-] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

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.

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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.

[-] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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.

this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
219 points (95.8% liked)

News

23600 readers
3424 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS