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Less than 30% of voter age Americans voted for this
by candiddevmike 1y ago
Less than 30% of voter age Americans voted for this
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- fnordpiglet 1y agoAnd a minority of those who did vote voted for this.
- monkeyelite 1y agoWhat presidential elections are you comparing it to?
- rchaud 1y agoThe majority that did vote, voted for this. The participation rate has always been low in rich western countries. Given the standards of media literacy and civics education, there's no evidence that a higher participation rate would have changed the outcome.
- pesus 1y agoPlurality, not majority. It may be pedantic but it's an important difference.
- rafram 1y agoI was going to say that it was a majority this time, but it seems like the results shifted as more votes were counted after election night, and he ended up with 49.8%. Still, unbelievably, pretty close to a majority.
- khazhoux 1y agoI don’t think it’s important in the slightest. Fact is that they were exactly two competitive candidates, and of all the people that cared to vote, more voted for one than the other. It may not be technical majority, but this is the common understanding in this country of “majority rule.”
- Narkov 1y ago> The participation rate has always been low in rich western countries. Australia has entered the chat.
- extra88 1y agoYou can't bring them up without including that voting is compulsory there.
- crabmusket 1y agoSee my sibling comment. Getting your name checked off is compulsory but nothing stops you from handing in a blank ballot.
- swat535 1y agoWhy would you hand blank ballot at. That point? You might as well vote.
- aloha2436 1y ago"I don't like any of the rat-bastards." "I don't care." "I think it's funnier to draw a dick. (And I don't care.)" "I trust other people to make the right choice." "I refuse to participate in this bourgeois sham election." ...are all reasons I've heard, even if I don't actually understand any of them.
- extra88 1y agoFor the purposes of this comparison, those "informal" votes still count in the typically used participation statistics. Voters intentionally case "wasted" ballots in other countries too.
- crabmusket 1y agoFor reference, informal votes were around 5% in our last federal election: https://results.aec.gov.au/27966/website/HouseInformalByState-27966.htm https://results.aec.gov.au/27966/website/HouseInformalByStat... This article contains a fun breakdown of the types of informal votes including a category for "the usual anatomical drawings" (0.7% of informal votes): https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/22/2025-federal-election-peter-dutton-dickson-informal-votes/ https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/04/22/2025-federal-election-p...
- akio 1y agoThe majority did not vote for Trump, and I question how many of the minority that did vote for him voted for this, specifically. Almost certainly not all of them, given his approval rating is now well below his popular vote share.
- nntwozz 1y ago> The participation rate has always been low in rich western countries. The general election in 2022 had 84,2% of eligible voters in Sweden.
- riffraff 1y agoItaly had 64% for the parliamentary elections in 2022, which is the lowest ever but it's pretty far from 30%.
- pokot0 1y agojust to note that if “30% voted for this” participation was roughly 60%
- wahern 1y ago63.9% per https://www.cfr.org/article/2024-election-numbers https://www.cfr.org/article/2024-election-numbers Which apparently was quite high. Only 3 presidential elections in the past 100 years exceeded 63%: 1960, 2020, and 2024.
- cscurmudgeon 1y ago[dead]
- mulmen 1y agoThere’s also no evidence that increased turnout would have had the same result. What seems to be overlooked in these conversations is the skill with which American voters have been disenfranchised by partisan forces. It’s easy to blame people for not voting if you ignore the real difficulties in actually casting a vote for many Americans.
- rayiner 1y agoIn fact there was an extensive analysis of the election by Democrat pollster David Shor, who found that 100% turnout would have resulted in an even larger Trump win, by 4.8 points: https://www.vox.com/politics/403364/tik-tok-young-voters-2024-election-democrats-david-shor https://www.vox.com/politics/403364/tik-tok-young-voters-202... This has been the pattern for awhile now. The pool of politically unengaged people are especially Trumpy compared to regular voters: https://abcnews.go.com/538/vote-back-trump/story?id=109090626 https://abcnews.go.com/538/vote-back-trump/story?id=10909062...
- mulmen 1y agoThis is very interesting but how would turnout and choice change if historically disenfranchised and suppressed communities had equal access to the polls?
- selfselfgo 1y ago[dead]
- sgc 1y ago
- bagels 1y agoNot majority, under 50%
- rayiner 1y agoArguments based on voter participation overlook that voting is a statistical sample of the population. The people who don’t vote broadly break down roughly the same way as the people who do vote. And even to the extent they don’t, it’s risky to make assumptions about how they would have voted. If you can generalize about non-voters, it’s that they’re broadly more anti-institution than voters—which is what causes them to put less stock in the institutional practice of voting. In the U.S. in the Trump era, that has meant that non-voters or infrequent voters support Trump somewhat more strongly than regular voters.
- mpesce 1y agoWe regularly have 92% - 93% participation in federal elections here in Australia. Having one next weekend, and already record numbers of pre-poll votes.
- Perenti 1y agoAnd those that don't vote have to show a very good reason, or pay a fine, or face gaol.
- grues-dinner 1y agoCorrection: those that don't enter a polling station. What you do in there is up to you. You can cast a vote, spoil the ballot, cast a "donkey vote" (numbering the options in the order printed), leave the ballot empty, as long as it goes in the box.
- CalRobert 1y agoMust be the sausages
- chaboud 1y agoIt’s almost like elections are held on Saturdays and participation is compulsory. Almost…
- Perenti 1y agoEverybody votes in Australia (not sure how rich, but in top 20 for sure). If you don't you have to show cause or pay a AUD$50 fine. I know some think this is anti-freedom, but it does prevent farces like the current USA. Historically there have been problems in the past (30 years ago) but these days the Australian Electoral Commission (Independent from government) revise electoral boundaries to ensure no more gerrymanders.
- tmtvl 1y agoIn Belgium attendance is mandatory as well. I think it's a positive as it means complacency ("my side has already won, no reason to go out and vote") is never a factor in the outcome.
- drowsspa 1y agoIn Brazil as well. I think a good side effect, or perhaps the main intended one, is that governments aren't allowed to supress voters and have to make sure everyone has easy access to the voting booths. Every election there are mandatory pieces on TV about how people are voting even in the most remote of places.
- rchaud 1y agoFarces occur in the US because it has a 2-party system where the winner takes all, and there is no limit to political funding. In parliamentary systems common in the rest of the West, there is at least a pretence of inter-party cooperations, e.g. forming coalitions to contain the power of the party with the plurality (but not majority) of votes.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- CalRobert 1y agoUnder fifty percent for what it’s worth. And there was a lot of disenfranchisement
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Someone 1y ago> The majority that did vote, voted for this Nitpick: Trump got less than 50% of the votes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election#Electoral_results https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia...) More importantly, I think quite a few who voted for Trump didn’t vote for this extreme version of Trump.
- makeitdouble 1y ago"American democracy"
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- rayiner 1y agoDavid Schor’s analysis found that if everyone had voted, Trump would have won by 4.8 points: https://www.vox.com/politics/403364/tik-tok-young-voters-2024-election-democrats-david-shor https://www.vox.com/politics/403364/tik-tok-young-voters-202...
- jen729w 1y agoAnd those that stayed at home deserve what they got.
- Braxton1980 1y ago100% of voter age Americans made a decision. That includes not registering to vote or not voting. Pretend I want a snack, I can choose between a cookie and an apple. If I dislike both then I also have the option to not get a snack. Neither is selected. This is different from not voting because a candidate still wins.
- Supermancho 1y agoIf the US wanted voting to be more popular, there would be a Federal Holiday to promote it. There is no incentive when there are known costs...at least since the wild inflation of the 80s when it got prohibitive to lose a shift and the slow dissolution of union jobs. This is the result of the tyranny of indifference. Those that benefit continue to promote and benefit, those that do not, are disenfranchised. It's a common theme in history.
- Braxton1980 1y ago>If the US wanted voting to be more popular, there would be a Federal Holiday to promote it. I agree but it doesn't actually matter. 97% can vote by mail, early, or another method besides election day according to this article https://www.cbsnews.com/news/map-early-voting-mail-ballot-states/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/map-early-voting-mail-ballot-st... >There is no incentive when there are known costs... is the result of the tyranny of indifference. What is the cause of the Indifference in your opinion ?
- psychoslave 1y agoWho said people are indifferent? They can still actively engage in civil life with a variety of actions that look more relevant and meaningful to them. If people are not given opportunity to actively engage in meaningful way like contributing to the creation of the laws they will have to follow, then sure they sooner than later they won't bother signing the blank check of void promises.
- Braxton1980 1y ago
- KingOfCoders 1y agoVoters who do not vote say "I'm fine with all winners", like "What pizza do you want?" - "I'm fine with every pizza".
- 8bitsrule 1y agoAccording to this non-official but prestigious NPO source [0] Trump got 49.8% of votes for president, Harris got 48.3%. Vote total ~156.3 million. A rather slim 'mandate' methinks. [0] https://www.cfr.org/article/2024-election-numbers https://www.cfr.org/article/2024-election-numbers (Council on Foreign Relations)
- ThrowawayR2 1y ago> "Less than 30% of voter age Americans voted for this" I'll point out again an article about a post-election analysis by David Shor posted on HN a few weeks ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43400172 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43400172): "The reality is if all registered voters had turned out, then Donald Trump would’ve won the popular vote by 5 points [instead of 1.7 points]. So, I think that a 'we need to turn up the temperature and mobilize everyone' strategy would’ve made things worse." Even as late as April 9, disapproval of the Democratic Party is higher than for the Republican Party according to Pew Research: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/04/23/views-of-congress-parties-and-courts/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/04/23/views-of-con... There isn't a hidden wellspring of pro-Democratic voters to tap. The Dems are going to have to go out and fight to win people over.