And Then Came Trump
Historic rates of turnout in 2020 and their meaning
For more than a century, one of the characteristic features of the American political system has been the large number of nonvoters. For election after election, since in fact the 19th century, turnout has been low, varying from below 60 percent in Presidential years to less than 40 percent in off-year elections.
Some have explained this by suggesting that the missing voter is so satisfied and happy with life and government that they feel no need to bother. Survey data, however, continues to show increasingly high levels of dissatisfaction with politics, government and life itself.
Alternatively, we might consider another research finding. For decades, a increasing part of the population has viewed politics or their government as providing little help. Many political scientists believe that this is an accurate reaction to a political system that shows no concern for the needs or the hopes of significant numbers of working-class Americans (the subset of the population significantly missing from the electorate), while we who are privileged tend to repeat the old refrain, that “the outsiders” will always be with us, the marginally poor and unassimilated “across the tracks” on the edges of American life.
In fact, for decades the default state of American electoral politics was the existence of an inattentive, largely alienated segment of the population which neither voted nor identified with a political party, nor was informed about the structure of government or the issues of campaigns—although increasingly disadvantaged by economic changes, and well aware of their distance from the promised land, the gated communities of elite wealth and power.
Then came Trump.
In 2020, turnout was at an historic high, 66%. Not just Democrats, but Republicans as well.
Some find this alarming. Close, they say, the barn doors. Keep the (you chose) inside. Funny thing about democracy, it’s non-partisan. Change election laws and you may be surprised at the effect. Whose supporters will be less willing or able to vote? And the vote itself is unclear as to its partisan effect. Except in one respect, the power of people at the polls its a wild card and the power it frequently challenges is that other great force in American politics, the money spent lobbying for vested interests in Congress.
It's almost like the additional conservative and liberal voters are just two sides of the same coin. What I'm trying to understand is if that's really so and it seems to me that there are factors that seem to throw us a bit off kilter. Take, for instance, a coworker of mine. He doesn't usually present as an extremist but I think he really is. He's overly concerned about how Jews are turning people gay and how trans people are allowed to use bathrooms. He's overly concerned that he's being persecuted for his brand of white supremacist Christianity. He's extremely concerned and upset about his perceived loss of privilege because he lives in a world where he's expected to treat people fairly and equally. He says that if it weren't for Black people complaining about unequal treatment, there would be no racism ... Black people are the real racists. He hates the government. He doesn't hate it in a way like having a healthy critical approach to it, but rather, Satan has something to do with it. He says this was once a Christian nation. His church seems to share his beliefs. He's not alone. He reports that there would never be a shooting at his church because many of the members who attend are cops who are always armed.
In a sense, Trump gave my coworker an opportunity to feel his oats. He saw in Trump a reflection of his own beliefs. It seems that he was always searching for a like this. I remember he was a big fan of Palin and Cain. These people didn't win their party's nomination. I'm not sure the other side of the coin is the same. The elite, I assume it's them, seem to be funding and pushing these kinds of ideas. The left, though there are some who don't seem to be entirely rooted in reality, don't seem to receive the same impetus as this right, or alt-right, or whatever it is we're calling them,
People like my coworker are not people who have ever been satisfied with the candidates listed on the ballot. I've never seen myself in any of them, to be honest, and have frequently held my nose as I voted for the candidates of my choice. I think some of these non-voters couldn't even do that. Lastly, my co-worker has a warped view of the founding of this country and much of it's history. I think it's mostly shaped by the latest meme or email that's been sent out, or his church, and does not represent any kind of actual reading, study, or thought. One time, I asked him about the social contract and he told me he never signed a contract.
And then came Trump.