I would also like to see a similar graph for mid-term elections. Do the winners even get 10% of the eligible votes?
Also worth noting: Republicans have only once won the popular vote since the turn of this century, in 2004 for George W. Bush's reelection, when he had both the incumbent advantage and was still riding the post-9/11 patriotism wave
or put another way, the democratic candidate have won the popular vote on 5/6 presidential elections this century
Should split this out by electoral college votes/states where the 'did not vote' could actually have made a difference. This is great info but also a bit misleading cause votes in swing states have more of an effect than increasing votes in deeply blue or deeply red states. The US president is not selected by a national popular vote. See on the chart how W Bush won the election but Gore had the popular vote, due to how the electoral college works.
Not discounting that more people should vote. I wish there were a national holiday in the US for everyone to get out and vote. But some votes matter more than others, depending on where you live, and this chart misses that nuance.
This makes me kinda ill. Like I almost cried a bit looking over these numbers. And I’ve seen some shit.
Quick reminder: In Switzerland, we have the ability to vote on everything. We get educated like that from the early childhood on, that voting is important and necessary. Even with that concept, the average voter participation is between 40-50%. So even if you might think a lot of people are not voting - yes, true, but you will never be able to increase it much above 50% IMHO.
We really need to have a compulsive voting law where the fine is like $1000 dollars. To make it easier though voters should get a federal holiday for elections, a choice of mail in voting, and be rewarded with $50 dollars for doing it. For all of you people who hate the idea of being compelled to vote, jury duty is mandatory but you get a small stipend for your time (at least in CA) and it's necessary to keep a functioning government.
Now if only we can get rid of the electoral college and implement ranked choice voting...
I've always been of the opinion that if you don't vote, I don't want to hear a word complaining about politics, but I've really reached my breaking point with that bullshit. We've seen it over and over again how ambivalence leads to things getting worse for a lot of people (often including the ambivalent ones). At this point, I'm just cutting people off immediately when they start up and I know they chose not to vote. Shut the fuck up. If it wasn't important enough to go to the ballot box, it's not important enough for me to listen.
