this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago (3 children)

The large number of eligible non-voters is primarily a result of those individual’s responses to propaganda. This did not happen by accident. I don’t blame the person that got conned, I blame those running the con job.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

What propaganda? Running a shitty candidate that doesn't represent the interests of working people is not propaganda.

If anything, this derision towards those who refuse to "fall in line" reads like propaganda. It makes sense that people like you would peddle it without even knowing.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (8 children)

Not according to the article. Lots of voters in solid red or blue states didn't see a point, and who am I to argue. Thanks to gerrymandering, this is often true even for local races. Why vote for a party that supports genocide when your vote is nothing but virtue signaling for a party bereft of virtue?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (7 children)

I’d be the one to argue ….. I mean, fine if you really don’t see the point, but the reasoning on half of these people in the article is flawed. Either they were speaking out of ignorance or using excuses for poor citizenship, but when their reason contradicts reality, they should be argued

And even if you’re in a solid red or blue state (like I am), your vote counts. Maybe it won’t change the results but they do pay attention. At the very least we could always say the Democratic candidate would win the popular vote. Not this time.

If there’s ever going to be a chance at reforming the electoral college system, t starts by having the popular vote be consistently different from the electoral vote. From this election, there’s no reason for reform, because both had the same result

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Local elections matter a lot. If the government shits its pants and nominates total morons who literally have no idea how to perform their job, it falls to state elections and officials to pick up the slack. And if your state elects fucking idiots, your last line of defense are your city officials. And you better pray they are damn good at their job.

You only want the best state officials, and the best only get elected if people vote. Out of 8,000,000 people in our state, 54 decided an election for a massive role during nov 2024. Four of those were from family, so a difference of about a block or three changed the outcome for millions of people. And we are deep blue. 50 votes away from a red candidate.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (6 children)

"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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

The left is dealing Left-out. And journalism standards are very low.

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