Low turnout plagues presidential elections By Luke Perry
With a presidential election year approaching, it is worth considering how the U.S. has lower voter turnout than nearly all industrialized democracies.
Over 60 percent of the voting age population typically votes in Europe. Scandinavia tops 80 percent.
U.S. turnout was higher than usual in recent national elections, but still paltry. 49 percent of voting age Americans voted in 2018, 56 percent in 2016.
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Neglecting to vote is part individual and part societal. Most Americans are disinterested and uninformed about politics.
Resource disparities, such as education and affluence, systematically depress voter turnout, along with bad policy.
The U.S. requires citizens to register themselves to vote. Other democratic governments are responsible for registering eligible residents.
Low voter turnout hampers a president’s ability to reflect the will of the American people, irrespective of the Electoral College.
Photo by John Middlebrook/Zuma
In 2016, for instance, Donald Trump won 62 million votes out of 136 million cast (46 percent). Hillary Clinton won 65 million votes (49 percent). 109 million voting age Americans did not vote (44 percent).
This means just 1 in 4 voting age Americans supported Trump. This is not a criticism; just a sad reflection on the state of our democracy.
If Hillary Clinton won three states she lost by a fraction of a point (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin), Clinton would now be president, and the same problem would exist.
The modern presidency is an extraordinarily difficult job. Presidents have countless responsibilities, including head of state, chief executive, supreme commander of the armed forces, top domestic and foreign policy leader, top economic manager, and top party leader, to name a few.
Winning roughly half of the votes from roughly half of the voting age population is not commensurate with becoming the most powerful person in the world.
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College
