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they said sorry (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[+] -9 points 9 months ago (11 children)

263 million Americans decided they didn't care enough to vote against a convicted sexual abuser running their country...

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  • [–] 20 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Yes, we have a disenfranchisement problem in the US. Between voter rolls being purged, people losing their right to vote due to felonies, gerrymandering out the ass, voter ID and other such nonsense trying to stop legal votes, and purposeful locking down/ limiting of voting places, it's honestly impressive so many were still able to vote. Doesn't change that what you said was wrong.

    And it's 188 million, unless you think a vote for Harris wasn't voting against Trump.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    It’s less than that, even. People under 18 are included in the total population numbers, but aren’t eligible to vote yet, so you need to knock around a third (maybe more?) of your total off just for that.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    A majority never have and never will vote, it's stupid but true. They just tune it out because it doesn't "effect them" because they don't realize how much it can and does.

    Or they're white and well off enough to not care

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I did voter registration drives in my area for a few pre-election years, and it’s really staggering the number of minority people who “don’t do politics”. As though that somehow helps them or is something to wear as a badge of honor. Not that they tune it out, but they actively avoid it at all costs.

    I convinced a few of them to change their tune and got them set up with absentee ballots to reduce the friction in voting, but man a lot of people genuinely want to avoid any mention of the government. I don’t really get it, but I don’t live their lives either. I haven’t seen how poorly the system treats them, and I don’t know what anxieties they might have about participating in the system.

    I think, overall, people are rational actors using whatever information they have available to them (even if that information is dis/mis-information). So there’s some set of reasons these people feel so thoroughly disenfranchised that they don’t even bother trying to participate. It’s probably not a very good reason, in reality, but it’s good enough for them to act on. idk how to fix that, but we probably should figure it out.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    That's a fair point, I sadly don't have the energy to do much action myself and am happy to hear others like you do try!

    To your point on minority positions, I know there's some fear there of retribution sometimes, or that the state makes it more difficult then necessary so that puts them off. Also just finding the time in our lives to do so, I pay a lot of attention to politics and it makes me angry a lot of the time, so I can understand why people want to tune it out for those kinds of reasons, however it is so important that you just have to do it at the end of the day or the consequences are... gestures around

    I'm sure there some good historical ideas, thinking particularly the civil rights movements and their tactics to get out the vote, I know it's a different time now but I'm sure a lot of it would still ring true/helpful.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Yes that's a problem but you directly asserted that a larger percentage of Americans voted for it than Germans did in the past which is flatly wrong. Interesting that you didn't even acknowledge that whatsoever

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