On The Sidelines Of Democracy: Exploring Why So Many Americans Don't Vote

[Dulcinea]

Just in the past few months, elections in the U.S. have been decided by hundreds of votes.

The 2016 presidential election tilted to Donald Trump with fewer than 80,000 votes across three states, with a dramatic impact on the country. Yet, only about 6 in 10 eligible voters cast ballots in 2016.

Among the other 4 in 10 who did not vote was Megan Davis. The 31-year-old massage therapist in Rhode Island never votes, and she's proud of her record.

"I feel like my voice doesn't matter," she said on a recent evening at a park in East Providence, R.I. "People who suck still are in office, so it doesn't make a difference."

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/645223716/on-the-sidelines-of-democracy-exploring-why-so-many-americans-dont-vote

[kacekwl]

1. Didn't read the whole article yet but

Megan from R.I , your excuse is nonsense and if you are honest with yourself shows you are just lazy and proud of it. Shame.

[MBS]

2. + 1 million n/t

[lagomorph777]

6. "People who suck still are in office"

Yeah, so by choosing not to vote, Megan, you are leaving them in office. Genius.

[0rganism]

3. "proud of her record"

"People who suck still are in office, so it doesn't make a difference."

[Blue_Tires]

4. That's why we need to chop off

every self-appointed thought leader of the left who pulls that "Send a message to the elites by staying home and not voting!!" -bullshit

[Jim Lane]

5. The linked article doesn't support that at all.

The article analyzes nonvoting based on socioeconomic class and other demographic factors. It also presents quotations from several nonvoters.

Not one of the nonvoters interviewed said, "Self-appointed thought leaders of the left persuaded me not to vote so that I could send a message to the elites."

Yes, there were probably some such people in past elections, but they were statistically insignificant. For the most part, people who found both major-party candidates unacceptable, and who wanted to send that message to the elites, did so by voting for a minor-party candidate or by writing in someone they liked. Those were certainly the courses advocated by most of the "self-appointed thought leaders of the left" who regularly come in for bashing on DU.

If you trouble to read the article and listen to what nonvoters are actually saying, even if it doesn't support your preconceived animosities, you find two themes that are most common.
1) The first is that many of the nonvoters despair of making any difference through voting. They believe -- with, alas, far too much justification -- that politicians aren't concerned with helping people like them. They don't see it as making a difference which candidate wins.
2) The other common theme is a lack of information. People aren't sure about voting rules, what they need to do, etc., or they feel they don't have enough information about the candidates to make a sensible choice.

Attempting to address these problems produces a solution set that doesn't include yet another post bashing "leaders of the left" who don't agree with you.

[Blue_Tires]

7. For starters

1. If they think voting doesn't matter because nothing ever changes for them or that "both parties are the same" -bullshit, then how the hell is any change supposed to happen by not voting? If they want to remove themselves from the political process that's on them, but then they've got no right to bitch and moan when something like Trump happens...

2. Lack of information is totally on them, no excuses for not knowing or at least how to find out...

[Jim Lane]

8. You appear to have misunderstood me.

You're refuting the view that nonvoting is a sensible choice, or at least one for which the nonvoter bears no blame. I did not express the view you're refuting. I do not hold that view. For my part, I always vote, even when the options on offer are unappealing.

The view I actually stated was to refute the placing of blame on unnamed "self-appointed thought leader{s} of the left ...." Such leaders had little to do with the causes of nonvoting that are revealed by the linked article.