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Enlightened Centrism
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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No they don't.
Pew Research - 2020 election
If leftists understood how much power they have at local elections they would absolutely participate. Same goes for federal. But time and time again, they don't bother to be active politically because of attitudes like yours.
Young and leftist aren't synonymous.
The numbers tell us that for the majority, that's the case. Do you have numbers that show otherwise?
Gen X and millennials are increasingly liberal.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/01/the-generation-gap-in-american-politics/
When you say “liberal”, do you intend as something different than “left”? I just want to make sure I understand your labels. Thanks.
Those terms are more or less interchangeable in UD politics at the moment as I understand it. I find the usage of the term "leftist" about as vaguely useless as the term "woke".
Ok. Then we are talking about the same group. What I'm trying to communicate is that young people, who overwhelmingly identify as liberal/left/progressive are participating less in elections. The other thread I'm responding to has all the Pew research numbers but if you'd like I can pull them here as well. If a large percentage of your electorate is absent from voting, don't expect policy to change any time soon.
What I am trying to emphasize is that the old saw about people getting more conservative as they age is not true anymore. Gen X and millennials have each been more liberal than the next even as they age. I'm 42 and a hell of a lot further left than I was at 18.
I understand now what you mean. Yes, hopefully that translates into a more political participation as they age as well.
Youth voters do trend leftwards, but the reason for not voting isn't because of being leftist, but because of being young.
Find an actual source.
I never said people don't vote BECAUSE they are leftist, did I? Nothing you said disagrees with what I said: left leaning people (and by inclusion: young people) tend to participate less in elections. The current political leadership represents the people that voted for them: predominantly boomers. So in that regard, politicians are doing exactly what they were elected to do. What's so difficult to understand?
You gave a source that says young people are voting less, not leftists, and your conclusion was that because young people tend to be more leftist, they aren't voting.
Correct: Young people are overwhelmingly left, and young people don't tend to vote. Where is the contradiction?
For comparison: conservatives are overwhelmingly older, and older people universally show up to vote.
I must be stupid and maybe I'm missing something. Walk me step-by-step where is the contradiction.
The statement was "leftists don't vote," not "young people don't vote." Leftists aren't only young, and conservative youth don't vote either.
Oh, I see. We're being pedantic with words. I guess I should have been precise in my language for people so people like you can have cause to split hairs. What I meant to say is "the majority of leftists don't vote" and this is well researched and supported by the numbers. Does that make you feel better? It doesn't matter if conservative youth don't vote, since the majority of the older population skews moderate or conservative. Both conservative and left youth can stay home, but that's how we get where we are.
Edit: also, it doesn't matter if conservative youth don't vote. Youth vote skews left. If younger people OVERALL showed up to vote we would have more progressive candidates. I think we're really struggling with stats today.
You didn't give any numbers to support your claim, just a different claim.
To support the claim of leftists not voting, you need numbers showing that leftists don't vote, not young people not voting.
I hope this helps!
The numbers are clear. I'm not sure where the break down is happening.
Conclusion: 3. The current electorate is composed of old people that tend to skew conservative. Those people show up to vote -every time.
Where is the contradiction?
More info from Pew 2022 election polls:
Also:
You have not proven this.
You have proven this.
Even if you did prove 1, you still aren't tying not voting to leftists, but young people.
For the last five decades, younger people have been trending left:
Statista
Edit: Just that most recent bar (gen z) should solidify this point. Despite a predominant portion being represented by Gen Z, we still only ave a slim majority in the House (and minority) in the senate. How do you explain that if your point is that left leaning people show up to vote?
Young people swing liberal, or even left. That doesn't mean the left is majority youth, or that leftism is what is tied to not voting, as opposed to youth.
I genuinely don't understand why this is a difficult logical hurdle for you to overcome.
Maybe I should be more precise in my language. I’m starting to realize that my rhetoric is a bit too general for social media and I’m painting with broad brush strokes to favor brevity (and I’m also tired). I never intended to say the left is predominantly youth, but rather that most youth skew left. If the youth showed up to vote, we wouldn’t have a slim majority in the house thus making any legislative progress almost impossible because of moderate democrats like J. Manchin — who are clearly representing their electorate— blocking any progressive bill. This topic is really well studied, I’m not sure why we’re even arguing.
From: Pew Research
Sure. I agree with that. That's not what you were originally saying, but if you're retracting the initial and inserting this statement, we agree.
I think I can sort of meet you half way. I don't think the numbers detract a whole lot from my original point. Sure, many lefties vote, but if a significant portion of the Democratic electorate does not participate, that's already incapacitating it to a degree. Imagine what we could accomplish if we had supermajority in both houses and didn't have to cater to moderate Dems like Sinema or Manchin? Imagine if we could primary actual progressive candidates and young people showed up to the ballot. Instead we are left with an insular slim majority in only one of the houses.