I mean we unironically allow (Christian) churches to act as polling locations for the majority of the US and hardly anyone I know sees an issue with that. We aren’t a nation of very smart people.
What choice do they have, literally. First past the post voting automatically leads to a two party system, and if you are not booked to one side, you have to choose your candidate based on some metric.
It certainly can seem like that, but the biggest problem is our voting system makes it work like that.
With a winner takes all voting system, and only two effective parties in power, everyone is basically stuck with “horrible monster who wants to kill everything in know and love” and “someone close to what I want kinda”.
So people tend to vote among party lines because that’s all they can do.
For example, where I live, both candidates have been anti trans. One’s way worse about it and the other is, in my opinion, probably just saying some rhetoric to try to appeal to some voting base she normally can’t reach. So I am going to have to choose the lesser of two evils, because the person running against her is from a party that actively wants to exterminate trans people, even though the other candidate sucks.
In short, Americans don’t vote for, they vote against.
Most register either as republicans or democrats and they vote same.
It’s really a team sport.
This! They seem to be programmed from birth to only vote one way. I get the impression they would be ostracised by family and friends if they voted for the other party.
It’s the only explanation as to why they keep voting the same candidate in. Even when the candidate continually votes against raising the minimum wage, cheaper healthcare, gun control or anything else that would improve the lives of the people they represent.
If only votes were anonymous and their friends and family didn’t have to know how they vote
Do most Americans vote… without any thinking…
Yes. It’s rare for a US citizen to be in a different political party or religious denomination than their parents. <- not happening by accident
Also, most people I try to have good faith discussions with speak solely in soundbites they heard in their favorite news ecosystem. No critical thought occurring at all.
Colin Woodard has written several interesting books on this idea through US cultural geography tying back to colonization.
He’s research blog/project is: https://www.nationhoodlab.org/
What a great site!
I added them to my reading list. It’s not mentioned on the site AFAIK but the RSS feed is https://www.nationhoodlab.org/feed/
Thanks for the RSS!
American Nations is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Nations Apart extends his model to modern political issues.
I would venture to say so. I don’t know many people that have time to research the 50 candidates on the preliminary voting sheet. Then the list is still long on whoever gets on the main ballot. And don’t forget researching the policies you’ll be voting on. Most voters just parrot what they’re told and have no idea what they vote for. And adding in, there’s no repercussions for candidates that state what they represent and then vote against it after being elected.
It depends on which level you’re talking about. At the federal level, there are generally only two meaningful choices, both selected by the wealthy class in this country and placed there to ensure there’s no meaningful change that benefits the poor and working class.
Our only real power is local. Even state-level politics are largely controlled by the rich now.
30% is the rough turnout in primaries.
By and large people have said they don’t give a flying fuck about whatever power they hold.
That’s what happens when both parties are a-okay with your family starving.
You stop missing work to vote.
It’s not that they don’t care. Both parties have made it abundantly clear that workers are powerless, so missing a day’s pay is likewise pointless. The only elections where people have any real power are local.
I mean, so we expect and want change when a huge majority (70% or more) do absolutely nothing to change anything?
That and very few of that majority would need to miss work. Overall people are just super lazy and show they really, when it comes to brass tacks, do not care enough to do the easiest thing they can.
I don’t know why people consistently defend the huge lazy majority to focus on a party apparatus. Republicans changed their party because they showed up. It’s doable but it means facing facts- you have to do something other than bitching online and to friends to effect change.
Overall people are just super lazy
That is a super Boomer take, and no, Americans are anything but lazy. We’re overworked to the tune of three jobs, 100 hours a week, and all it buys people is roach-infested studio if they’re lucky.
The problem isn’t voters. It’s billionaires, and voting for a red billionaire candidate or a blue billionaire candidate is a false choice, which people are well aware of.
What a crock of shit, personally.
You’re saying a full 70% of the population is “overworked” and just so unable to do the bare minimum?
I live here- I know. Many are overworked but not to that extent and they are just that lazy. Which is great because since they can’t do the bare minimum they can do a LOT more work later and be even more overworked as fascism takes a deeper hold.
Jfc. Won’t anyone take responsibility? The real hot take is yours which mimics trumps “the buck stops somewhere over there.”
Also, your position is fully exposed. You say voting local is important. How many local primary candidates are billionaires huh?
Moreover, what a surprise. The new darling of the left mamdani ( who is awesome mind you) got elected because a bunch of people who don’t normally vote in primaries decided to not be lazy…
Same with many other leftist candidates. Imagine that…
I’d waste my time responding, but instead, I’m just going to tell you that your response is loaded with logical fallacies and you should think things through a bit more. Have a great day.
This isn’t even just an US American issue. Source: the current governnent of Finland.
A few days, maybe a week ago, my uncle said, in desperation, “but they promised to fix the fuel prices!” Without thinking I sort of muttered to myself, “and you believed them like a fucking moron.” Good thing I’m a bit bigger than him, I’m pretty sure he would have punched me if I were any smaller lol.
I live such a sheltered life, I don’t have these kinds of events in my life.
Just be happy that you don’t have moron uncles :D
Imagine the dumbest person you know… Millions of voters are dumber than that person. Millions. Why do you think so much money is spent on mud slinging ads and culture war bullshit?
This is exactly true, but never forget that its by design. It’s not that the majority of humans are hopelessly stupid and only a special few are smart enough to vote for who will actually improve their life. The education system in the usa has been intentionally gutted and people are fed propaganda telling them they deserve to be rich but [insert minority here] is ruining things for them. This same thing has either already started happening in many other countries or is being planned. Remember education is the foundation of democracy. Support and protect your schools
In the primaries, people will vote for their favorite candidate in the party they’re registered with. In the general, you have two choices and one is usually a Democrat and the other Republican. There are a couple “independents” that have made it through. That’s how it works in a first past the post voting system. At that point you’re likely voting for the lesser of two evils but good candidates can make it through.
It’s a shit system, but some people will abstain because they think that a protest non vote in the general is some way of protesting. The math doesn’t add up and it’s why Trump is president. Too many idiots decided that Kamala wasn’t good enough, even though she was clearly, on all levels, better than Trump. I didn’t love her, but I knew that if she won, the states and the world would be in a better place. You’ll heard those idiots parroting shit about her being pro Isreal, but anyone with half a brain could understand that Trump was going to be far worse for everything, including the Isreal conflict, than Harris.
Bites. It’s Biden’s mistake in not dropping out early and Kamala’s own faults that lead her to lose an election, not the populace reacting to well documented horrors abroad in predictable ways.
Kamala would have won if she had a penis.
But she doesn’t, most likely. So she should have pandered to the public in some other way, but she didn’t. And maybe the best way to refer to someone’s gender is not by their junk?
If she were a trans man I definitely don’t think he would have won.
I’m going to go with ‘yes’ based on an interaction with someone I knew during Trump’s first term. She told me she’d voted for him so I asked “Why? You’re working class, female and Mexican. You’re literally everything he loudly hates and will actively be against your best interests”. She said “Because he said he was going to fix taxes”.
Yes, single-issue voters exist. For many, just saying that you’re anti-abortion is enough.
Or pro gun. I know many people that would never vote Democrat because of guns.
Or anti-minority. Actually, I think most of the other issues are smokes green these days for people who just hate minorities.
I used to be anti-abortion, but then Republicans kept trying to say what I could do with my body while denying me healthcare coverage and I’m like… “Damn this must be what ciswomen go through.”
Yup. Bodily autonomy is non-negotiable. Abortions should be legal for the same reason organ donation is opt-in, not opt-out. Nobody, fetus or otherwise, has a right to the use of your body without your ongoing consent.
Once you’ve donated something you cannot take it back, sure, but you cannot be forced to continue donating against your will.
Could you imagine if someone argued “you agreed to donate plasma on an ongoing basis, and the recipient needs it to live, so you’re not allowed to stop donating, even if it could kill you”?
Do many people vote on candidaes for all the wrong reasons? YES
