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New study projects drop in Millenial voter turnout in 2018

Chococat

Member
Perhaps people didn't vote because their options sucked.

Welcome to life. Things suck. Not voting ensures it will continue sucking.

Incremental change or the status quo is better then the regression that just happened.

If you didn't vote, you are part of the reason why things suck.
 
Democratic party truly is fucked isnt it. The demographics least likely to vote are the demographics most likely to align with the democrats.
 

Maxim726X

Member
Bring back free college promises.

Lie to these fucking idiots. It's apparently the only way to get them to go to the polls.
 

BADMAN

Member
Welcome to life. Things suck. Not voting ensures it will continue sucking.

Incremental change or the status quo is better then the regression that just happened.

If you didn't vote, you are part of the reason why things suck.

If the Democrats keep pushing incremental change or status quo as their platform then they deserve every lost vote.

Bring back free college promises.

Lie to these fucking idiots. It's apparently the only way to get them to go to the polls.

I'll take hard to achieve idealism over "Everything you want is impossible so deal with it" any day.
 

JettDash

Junior Member
I'm not sure that turnout in the last few elections is all that useful of a predictor. The last two midterms there was a Democratic president so there was less motivation for certain groups to show up. With an unpopular Republican president pushing an unpopular agenda, they will have a bigger motivation than they did in 2010 and 2014.
 
Perhaps people didn't vote because their options sucked.

Yes, both sides. What dumbass drivel.

I get voting isn't fun, but at some point people have to take responsibility and do some basic level of research and put a minimum level of effort in. There is an unmistakable difference in getting a person like Trump in versus lets say Clinton even if she wouldn't be ideal. National and statewide races aren't that hard. At some point, you have to acknowledge the fact that people simply refuse to do work and would rather live in their bubbles instead of getting out there and actually making real changes. Even if it's just voting. While registration is an issue, it does not take that much time in the scheme of things. The voting process also doesn't take that much time. Especially if someone takes advantage of early voting and other avenues versus being stuck in a long line on voting day.

To this day, in deep red states as a black man, I've never voted on election day. It's either been through mail or in early voting. People say conservatives are uneducated, but they're wrong. They run circles over liberals in understanding basic governance. Liberals have failed miserably in understanding how government works. Much more basic high school civics education is needed there.
 

zelas

Member
There's nothing to inspire people, why vote?

I mean, I vote in every election. I'm just speaking to the depressive atmosphere and lack of genuine, passionate candidates.
Why would they show up in 2016 but not in 2018?

This is a pattern that has followed young people for decades. Nobody is to blame but themselves.
 
For some reason I thought the OP was comparing 2012 to 2016, not 2016 to a projected 2018.

That ain't so worrisome then. At first I was horrified.
 

JettDash

Junior Member
If the Democrats keep pushing incremental change or status quo as their platform then they deserve every lost vote.

They're mostly rich white people. They will be fine. The ones who will be fucked are the idiots who think that if they can't get everything they want they may as well not vote and let the Republicans win. Great "strategy".
 

Maxim726X

Member
If the Democrats keep pushing incremental change or status quo as their platform then they deserve every lost vote.



I'll take hard to achieve idealism over "Everything you want is impossible so deal with it" any day.

Hard to achieve...?

Explain to me how that would ever even be feasible. There is literally no path to that legislation now and for the foreseeable future. If you buy that, you're a fool. I'm sorry.
 

SeanTSC

Member
Stupid fucking irresponsible children. That's all I can think right now. Republicans are LITERALLY trying to kill tens of thousands of people and strip healthcare from tens of millions so that they can save a few rich people a few dollars and you can't get off your ass to stop it. What is wrong with you? Grow up and do your civic god damn duty.

It's so frustrating. I've voted in every single local, state, federal, etc thing since I was 18.

The callousness and disregard for human life in this country is sickening. And it could be changed if people got off their asses and filled out a form every now and then. Take the fucking time you spent Tweeting and do something.
 
Picture it from my generations perspective, even before Trump the world looks like it's poised to turn into a fucking hellscape with automation looming, global warming probably making it so having kids is unethical, the housing market being so fucked that most people will never own one and people living paycheck to paycheck to maintain bare subsistence

And then trump happens, of course you're going to be depressed as shit and not want to vote

that ... actually makes sense.
 

Joe T.

Member
I understand the anger, but that alone won't help the US out of this mess. Any disillusioned voters coming across this thread and reading the messages probably won't feel too inclined to participate knowing that they'll just be insulted. Should be asking why so many of those voters aren't engaging in the election process and what can be done to fix it.
 

BADMAN

Member
They're mostly rich white people. They will be fine. The ones who will be fucked are the idiots who think that if they can't get everything they want they may as well not vote and let the Republicans win. Great "strategy".

The Democrats put those people in that position in the first place. They had no interest in compromising with the hard left and now they are feeling the pain of not having their votes. Unfortunately there isn't any other option for these people. If you aren't being properly represented by the party that is supposed to represent you then your only option is to not vote for them until they take the hint.

Hard to achieve...?

Explain to me how that would ever even be feasible. There is literally no path to that legislation now and for the foreseeable future. If you buy that, you're a fool. I'm sorry.

It is achievable. I'm not stupid though. I know that there currently is not path to the legislation as things stand now but if we don't start electing people who want things like free college and single payer healthcare then there will never be a path. Shit I have a very long list of things that I want to see at least talked about that the establishment Dems don't even mention. Hows about true police reform? Demilitarize and remove the horrible racist corruption that plagues law enforcement. Get rid of private prisons. Do away with the military industrial complex, which at this point is just a jobs program that the government uses to sell weapons to Middle Eastern countries. The list goes on and on.
 
The Democrats put those people in that position in the first place. They had no interest in compromising with the hard left and now they are feeling the pain of not having their votes. Unfortunately there isn't any other option for these people. If you aren't being properly represented by the party that is supposed to represent you then your only option is to not vote for them until they take the hint.

someone literally used the words "pie in the sky" so you're not going to have many fans who share your opinions here
 

reckless

Member
The Democrats put those people in that position in the first place. They had no interest in compromising with the hard left and now they are feeling the pain of not having their votes. Unfortunately there isn't any other option for these people. If you aren't being properly represented by the party that is supposed to represent you then your only option is to not vote for them until they take the hint.

Or you know vote for people that actually share the same message within the party, but that would actually take effort so lol.

Young people are lazy and a lot will come up with any excuse not to vote.
 

akira28

Member
well forewarned is forearmed. you hear of a potential problem, you work on solutions to address it. Out reach to that group should be a major spending point for democrats. not tv ads or consultants or outreach to chambers of commerce...
 
Perhaps people didn't vote because their options sucked.

perhaps if they ever bothered turning out worth a damn instead of making every possible excuse to avoid actually executing a civic duty in every single election cycle since well before 2008, the options might not suck as much

but i digress. keep withholding your votes and see where it takes you, because i'm done trying to convince people that there will not be a sea change if only we get to see just how comically terrible the other party actually is

the democrats are literally leading the house ballot by 9-10 right now, are basically about to run on bernie's platform in 2018, and we're still seeing shit like this. perhaps the electorate might be part of the problem.
 

theWB27

Member
The Democrats put those people in that position in the first place. They had no interest in compromising with the hard left and now they are feeling the pain of not having their votes. Unfortunately there isn't any other option for these people. If you aren't being properly represented by the party that is supposed to represent you then your only option is to not vote for them until they take the hint.

Thats stupid as shit. By that time you'll never get it because the other side will be too powerful. Those people who think like that aren't proving anything other than how much they don't tally give s damn. Letting the other side win isnt s sound strategy.... at all.
 

Draper

Member
I always wonder if a place like Neogaf is representation why people less and less care to involve themselves in politics.

Just the condescension, the pompous dismissal of concerns or any bit of non-templated expression- the entire concept has become toxic as hell

Or if this place is just an anecdotal bubble.

Whelp v
 
Fuckin' idiots.

YNgmlTp.gif
 

Zukkoyaki

Member
Don't voters always drop off for midterms? It's comparing a presidential election to a midterm
Doesn't that make this somewhat misleading?
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Picture it from my generations perspective, even before Trump the world looks like it's poised to turn into a fucking hellscape with automation looming, global warming probably making it so having kids is unethical, the housing market being so fucked that most people will never own one and people living paycheck to paycheck to maintain bare subsistence

And then trump happens, of course you're going to be depressed as shit and not want to vote

The equivalent of paralyzing instead of having an actual productive fight or flee response.

I mean, I understand. But today's problems are no worse than yesterday's for our ancestors, and some were even greater. They didn't give up, and knew they would probably die before change could be achieved.

What's worse is that voting is perhaps the easiest way to have this fight. Thousands of people gave their lives to make it that easy (ignoring all the voting suppression bullshit that happens), and people simply cross their arms and let the slowly boiling water to burn their skin crisp. It's a valid option, but damn if it ain't stupid in the great scheme of things.
 
Until election day is a national holiday I don't want to hear people shitting on the millennials for not voting. They're probably working to pay off their student loans.

Ignoring that mail-in voting is a thing in many states, many jobs don't close for national holidays. Like the majority of the service industry. The people that are most likely not to be able to take off the time to vote are also the ones most likely to have to work on election day even if it is a national holiday.
 
I always wonder if a place like Neogaf is representation why people less and less care to involve themselves in politics.

Just the condescension, the pompous dismissal of concerns or any bit of non-templated expression- the entire concept has become toxic as hell

Or if this place is just an anecdotal bubble.

Whelp v

Always the bubble argument...

But sure when folks argue that millennials aren't voting because both sides are the same, and because Trump won so why bother... The ones saying just vote are in the bubble.
 

Shauni

Member
Don't voters always drop off for midterms? It's comparing a presidential election to a midterm
Doesn't that make this somewhat misleading?

I mean, misleading isn't the right word, but apparently a lot of people here are really surprised that there's drop off from Presidential to midterm elections. I figured this was fairly common knowledge, especially around here.
 
Picture it from my generations perspective, even before Trump the world looks like it's poised to turn into a fucking hellscape with automation looming, global warming probably making it so having kids is unethical, the housing market being so fucked that most people will never own one and people living paycheck to paycheck to maintain bare subsistence

And then trump happens, of course you're going to be depressed as shit and not want to vote

You do bring up an interesting point, as wrong as you are.

Depression leads to the lack of will to accomplish anything. It's like the guy who knows he'll feel better if he goes for a run outside, because it worked every time before... yet he can't bring himself to do it.

Maybe low voter turnout is a sort of collective depression.
 
I always wonder if a place like Neogaf is representation why people less and less care to involve themselves in politics.

Just the condescension, the pompous dismissal of concerns or any bit of non-templated expression- the entire concept has become toxic as hell

Or if this place is just an anecdotal bubble.

Whelp v
Midterm voters sucked before Neogaf existed. Many young people fail at basic civics and don't put in a basic effort to understand why the voting process is important. They find any possible excuse to ignore it.

This has nothing to do with Neogaf.
 

TheGrue

Member
This thread makes me proud of my kid who turned 18 a couple of weeks after the 2016 Presidential election and was so bummed out that he couldn't vote. I know he's itching to go in 2018.
 
Political campaigns are fairly sophisticated these days. If you do not vote your are invisible to politicians. It's simply much easier to convince someone who votes to vote for you then it is to convince someone who doesn't vote to vote for you.

The mentality that your vote is like some virginity that you're saving for the magical candidate that agrees with you 100% might make some rational sense to an individual, but is probably related to the failure of far-left politics to obtain any meaningful accomplishments.

edit: I can say from experience in local elections (e.g., city council and mayoral) millennials were basically useless. It was all older demographics voting and volunteering. Not promising.
 

Shauni

Member
This thread makes me proud of my kid who turned 18 a couple of weeks after the 2016 Presidential election and was so bummed out that he couldn't vote. I know he's itching to go in 2018.

Edited right in the nick of time lol. I hope he really is itching for 2018.
 
Unless they're fucked over by voter ID laws and other bs, I don't think they should complain about the consequences if they don't like them. I'm totally gonna vote, as I don't feel qualified to complain about results I don't like if I didn't attempt to change them.
 

JettDash

Junior Member
The Democrats put those people in that position in the first place. They had no interest in compromising with the hard left and now they are feeling the pain of not having their votes. Unfortunately there isn't any other option for these people. If you aren't being properly represented by the party that is supposed to represent you then your only option is to not vote for them until they take the hint.

But I'm sure the tens of millions of people that will lose their healthcare if Republicans succeed will be comforted by dumbasses on the left who think that not voting is a good strategy.
 

Shauni

Member
Political campaigns are fairly sophisticated these days. If you do not vote your are invisible to politicians. It's simply much easier to convince someone who votes to vote for you then it is to convince someone who doesn't vote to vote for you.

The mentality that your vote is like some virginity that you're saving for the magical candidate that agrees with you 100% might make some rational sense to an individual, but is probably related to the failure of far-left politics to obtain any meaningful accomplishments.

Considering how there is zero 'far-left' political activity in the mainstream, that's pretty easy to fail lol.
 

BADMAN

Member
someone literally used the words "pie in the sky" so you're not going to have many fans who share your opinions here

That's fine. It doesn't matter how many people shit on my opinion. I still respect the idea that someone would want to vote Democrat due to the fear of the GOP being absurdly cruel and greedy. I just don't believe that anything will change if we give into that fear. I think the Democratic leadership is using that fear to do whatever they want. Apparently what they want is the cold comfort of status quo.

Thats stupid as shit. By that time you'll never get it because the other side will be too powerful. Those people who think like that aren't proving anything other than how much they don't tally give s damn. Letting the other side win isnt s sound strategy.... at all.

And that's why we are likely fucked either way. How long do you think Democrats are going to be able to sell people on "Like it is now but a bit better"? Hillary Clinton ran on that message and she lost to a racist orange potato. If the Democrats want to start sweeping elections they need to dump the baggage and become fighters for the future. For the love of god if they would just come out and give us a vision for the future I'd be a little bit happier.

But they won't. And people are going to make the decision to not go out and vote because it doesn't seem like it will change anything. Even if you get Trump out of office in 2020 they are going to have a hard time keeping power due to not having a message.
 

Maxim726X

Member
I always wonder if a place like Neogaf is representation why people less and less care to involve themselves in politics.

Just the condescension, the pompous dismissal of concerns or any bit of non-templated expression- the entire concept has become toxic as hell

Or if this place is just an anecdotal bubble.

Whelp v

If you really believe this, after seeing what this administration has done, then you're being a child.

You're willing to let them destroy lives because you can't get the perfect candidate. That's the very definition of naivete.
 

Shauni

Member
That's fine. It doesn't matter how many people shit on my opinion. I still respect the idea that someone would want to vote Democrat due to the fear of the GOP being absurdly cruel and greedy. I just don't believe that anything will change if we give into that fear. I think the Democratic leadership is using that fear to do whatever they want. Apparently what they want is the cold comfort of status quo.



And that's why we are likely fucked either way. How long do you think Democrats are going to be able to sell people on "Like it is now but a bit better"? Hillary Clinton ran on that message and she lost to a racist orange potato. If the Democrats want to start sweeping elections they need to dump the baggage and become fighters for the future. For the love of god if they would just come out and give us a vision for the future I'd be a little bit happier.

But they won't. And people are going to make the decision to not go out and vote because it doesn't seem like it will change anything. Even if you get Trump out of office in 2020 they are going to have a hard time keeping power due to not having a message.

And this based on what?
 

Pyrokai

Member
What about us that can't just leave the country?

I'm in tears at the moment. Every day it's just something more depressing than the last :(
 
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