Question of the Week

Why don't people vote?

There are several possible reasons that people don't vote. First, in this election Democrats have been coming out in huge numbers compared to Republicans. I think much of this is to do with the candidates involved. On the Democratic side, voters only have 2 real candidates to pick from, so they are able to feel more strongly about a certain person when there are only two people to choose from. On the Republican side, there are several candidates to choose from and many people are undecided about which candidate best reflects their beliefs. Many voters are content to let the party pick the presidential nominee and then vote in the presidential election instead of the primaries.

What about election turnout in general? Why is it so low in America? It's strange that we have a lower voter turnout in the last presidential election than Iraq did in it's elections. I think the biggest thing is that most of the population is largely apathetic toward politics. Why? I think it's mainly because life in our country is so good. People vote more when they are ticked off and dissatisfied with their lives. Low voter turnout tells me that people, for the most part, are satisfied with their lives and don't feel they have to pay so much attention to politics.