We realize that most Americans didn’t vote for Trump (only 49.8%) and that most of those who did probably didn’t understand what tariffs are and how they work and we realize that Trump’s action and our response are going to hurt poor Americans, and poor Americans in red states more than others, but we’re not going to take illegal tariffs sitting down.
Just a reminder who Trump is pissing off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHSaHRd4Q48
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/lend-hand-do-what-you-can-remembering-generosity-gander
Who gives a shit? Those non-voters made an active choice to not matter. Makes sense to respect that choice and ignore their existence.
People always bring this up as if it’s some indication that things arent quite as bad as they seem. Why? Americans chose this in every way that matters.
Keep in mind that quite a lot of those people are lower class citizens who can’t afford to take a day off work to vote. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, not getting one day of pay can be crippling.
Sure, it’s easy to say they should bear the cost to save the nation, but none of us are feeding their kids or paying their bills. And it isn’t us who go homeless because they voted.
While I’m sure this is true for many, where I live early voting is super easy and convenient. I’m willing to bet the vast majority of people that did not vote could very easily have done so, they just didn’t for non logistical reasons.
I would have early voted if I knew I could. I legitimately didn’t know that was an option for myself until if was over. I thankfully was able to go on voting day, so it’s ok. But for the first time in my voting life, I never received my voting pamphlet with all the usual info as well as my voting location. I had to look everything up and that really made me mad. So I could easily understand some people legitimately missing their opportunity to vote because they weren’t provided the information to be able to get out there and do it.
where i live, voting is not necessarily easy or convenient for folks relying on public transport. that much harder if they are, say, a working single parent living below the poverty level. and my work involves talking to people like this every day - there are millions like them.
Do you think they would have voted if somebody drove them from their house to the polling place and back home? What would they need in order to convince them to vote? Mail in ballots? Polling places within X distance of their house? Anything else?
I’m sure it’s the cynic in me, but I just think that the people staying home just don’t care enough to actually vote. If they did, they would figure out a way to do so.
For instance, a working single parent below the poverty level probably knows that voting for the millionaire over the billionaire is not going to impact their life, so why bother wasting time voting?
Regardless of that; another shenanigan exists for those who did make it to the polls; Gerrymandering.
Yes; it’s horrid as it sounds and it limits the voting power of lower class people, as well as the power of people who are considered to be “ethnic minorities” by the party in power. If there’s a neighborhood of blacks next to a poor neighborhood; well both find themselves districted together and their cumulative votes are diminished by how the votes are counted by district such that a 2-3 victory for Democrats; is actually counted as a 2-3 victory for the Republicans…all because the Republicans were already in power somehow and managed to re-district the place so that the vote result never changes anything…unless the unlikely event that all three neighborhoods choose to vote the same way occurs.
Yet another shenanigan exists where voting rolls are frequently “purged” due to false assertions of fraud and onerous and routine registration becomes necessary, which isn’t a problem if you don’t work full-time in the USA; but good luck getting a day off work if you do work full-time and need to vote. (Hint: YOU DON’T; OR ELSE YOU GET FIRED WITH NO RECOURSE!)
Even if that wasn’t enough already; many times the voting times, locations, dates and even rules change from year-to-year, and sometimes even month-to-month.
What worked this time might not work next time. From ID requirements to ballot order manipulation or even other flat out shady practices like misleading or leading poll questions on the ballot are all employed.
The media is even worse; and frequently spouts simple and blatant lies. they could literally be absolutely passionate about their issue in particular and still end up being misled or lied to; as there’s no accountability for this. This would result in mistakenly casting a vote for the wrong candidate who would then go on to not represent the will or needs of the citizens voting for them once they’re in power.
The average American, just simply can’t always be on top of every one of these things 24/7. It’s easy to get taken by any one of them by surprise.
I wouldn’t be so sure. It’s a time honored tradition for red states to make it significantly more difficult to vote. Shutting down voting locations in busy (so blue) areas, not accepting mail in votes, etc.
The red state I live in does not do this. Anecdotal of course
You don’t think there’s any problem with using only your viewpoint and experience as a guide for judging the entire nation?
Yep, which is why I pointed out that it’s anecdotal. But I’m also seeing a bunch of comments that are just generalizations with no actual sources. So my anecdote has some value at least.
What was the point of making the comment in the first place then?
To offer an alternative viewpoint to the other SOURCELESS comments. You want to provide sources that back up the comments, that’s fine. Otherwise my anecdotal perspective is equally valuable.
Those non-voters matter a lot because Trump is acting like he has some kind of enormous overwhelming mandate, and there is no evidence to back that up.
Trump is acting like Trump. Talk of a ‘mandate’ is piffle, like almost anything he says.
Piffle
Thanks for the new to me word!
So what? Play it out. What, the GOP Congress invoke the 25th and remove him ? They’ll impeach him? He does need a mandate. He won the last election he’ll ever need to. Media is controlled by a few billionaires who all support him. How people feel doesn’t matter anymore.
If the peole believe he has an overwhelming mandate, they will be a lot slower to kick him in the teeth. It will soon be too late.
Half of voters are in his cult. They will literally eat shit before they abandon him in the way you’re implying. Stop acting like you’re dealing with rational actors.
They’re just trying to cope with the situation by playing games with statistics. You’re absolutely right though, non-voters don’t matter and there’s no point in talking about them as much as we do.
I agree that talking about non-voters in that context isn’t useful but we definitely should talk about non-voters more in regards to why they didn’t vote. Is it cause in a number of states voting access is really hard? Is it due to not liking either party and not feeling like there are good candidates? I think understanding that more could really give a better understanding of this block of people, is it really just people who don’t care about politics and would never care enough to vote or is it people who just don’t have the time to deal with navigating the system to be able to vote.
The reason? Electoral college. Why vote in the majority of states where the result is already predetermined?
I think that’s definitely a big reason for non-swing state voters but I do also think how hard it can be to vote in some states is a pretty bit barrier too. If you look at turnout data by state theres a reason a lot of the red states with the more strict laws have lower turnout compared to my home state of Oregon which isn’t a swing state yet still can get 75% turnout in 2020 even though it’s a solid blue state, cause we do full vote by mail.
This is the same percentage of the population it’s been for 50 years. Any question you could want to ask has been asked many times already. How many more times do we need to ask them before we’re satisfied with the answers?
100 million people being armed with guns matter. Their families will die if they fight for or against another.
“I didn’t vote” doesn’t protect your family from bullets, it makes them fodder for both sides. (I think the Democrats are shit, but by no means would I ever think ANY Republican has been better than the average Democrat