52% of Democrats don't vote, compared to 27% of Republicans who don't. I have a question about that

[TrollBuster9090]

Take a look at this amazing video, and the Pew Research graphic that says that 52% of Democrats (and democratic leaning) voters don't vote, compared to only 27% of Republican (leaning) voters not voting, and answer this question.

Do more than HALF the Democratic Party voters fail to show up to vote because:

A. They're too lazy, or

B. They think there is no point, given that Democrats have moved so close to the Republican positions that there is virtually no difference between the parties?

When I see Democratic candidates running away from President Obama and his achievements, rather than whole-heartedly defending them; and failing to stand up for real issues, in favor of just making campaign commercials showing them shooting things to prove how much they love the 2nd Amendment, I can't say I'd blame them.

#t=96

[merrily]

1. Probably not one reason for everyone, but I doubt laziness, per se, plays a big role.

If you firmly believed that you would improve your life and that of your loved ones by voting, how lazy would you be about mailing in an absentee ballot or getting to the polls?

[RobertEarl]

2. Running from Obama?

Or following him to the right?

When Obama was elected he looked like a liberal. Today he looks to be on the right. That's why they shy from him, because he has gone wishy washy. He ran in 2008 against Bush, in 2014 he looks more and more like Bush. Since when has Obama criticized Bush? I can't remember when, except for 2008.

[riversedge]

3. I do not recall Pres Obama being critical of any

President do you?--or maybe a bit here and there but I do not remember anything that sticks out. I do remember Obama praising Ronny Reagan. Maybe-- praising-- is not the right word. Complemented him? Actually I not remember what the compliment was about.

[RobertEarl]

4. Yes. In 2008 he was critical of Bush

He ran against the asswipe. That's how he won.

Then he let Bush off the hook while looking the other way as thousands of people went to jail for minor crimes.

[Vattel]

5. There are a host of other possible explanations.

I don't know what the correct explanation is, but one reason might be that Democrats tend to live in cities with more crowded polling places. Another might be that Democrats tend to be poorer and so have less flexible work schedules. Another might be that Democrats are on average younger and young people don't vote as much.

[SunSeeker]

6. The reason Dem candidates have no spine is because Dem voters don't have their backs.

They can't count on those Dems to come out to vote, especially in the midterms. So they gear their message to what they think the electorate they will be facing wants to hear.

We can blame the candidates for being phony Dems, but they wouldn't pretend to be Republicans if they were sure their base would show up. The GOP knows their base will show up.

This is kind of a "Which came first the chicken or egg?" thing. Which came first, the Dem voters not showing up or Dem candidates running away from Dem policies?

I guess at this point which came first doesn't matter. What matters is what to do to give our candidates a spine and getting them elected. What will give Dem candidates a spine? Us showing up to vote.

[Paulie]

8. Disagree. They take a lot of the base for granted

With the otherside is worse so we can ignore our own base attitude and actions. And it shows.

[SunSeeker]

9. Yeah, they take for granted most of us won't show up. nt

[Paulie]

10. You saying tossing some raw meat to the base is too much to ask?

Give something to vote for and amazingly people may become engaged instead of apathetic. I know. Too much to ask from our leaders.

[RobertEarl]

12. You mean Like Obama 2008?

Obama 2008 was change and hope and the people turned out to vote him into office in 2008.

How come we don't have any more Obama 2008 like candidates?

Obama 2008 was a real winner.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

16. You just pointed out what I've been saying all along. Democrats are infantile lil' babies who want

candidates to clap for them and get them excited enough to go to the polls, or they won't go. Democratic voters have the mentality of 2 year olds. They aren't grown ups.

[Scootaloo]

26. Yeah. we want candidates worth supporting

What a bunch of fucking babies, not being willing to just settle.

[SunSeeker]

21. He tossed out plenty of meat, yet the base stayed home in 2010.

That left him with a GOP majority in the House. This even though he had just given us the ACA and Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act and saved the US auto industry. I guess the Dem voters who stayed home in 2010 (and yesterday) didn't want meat, they wanted a unicorn that farted glitter.

[Jamaal510]

33. +1

[Sarah Ibarruri]

14. Yes yes yes yes yes. I keep saying this on DU, and other Democrats say, "nono, it isn't that."

So thank you a million times for saying this.

The laziness of Democrats has given us candidates that are then left alone up there, to fend for themselves without a strong base.

[Number23]

28. + a billion. The old self fulfilling prophecy in action

I can think of nothing worse than representing a group of people that will scream, call you every name but a child of God and turn their backs on you in a nanosecond of being sworn into office for doing exactly what they put you in office to do -- GOVERN.

[karmaqueen]

7. Republicans have cheerleaders..

Faux news and about just every radio station cheer them on.. The horrible hate filled talk aimed at Democrats make them feel they have to save America by voting them out... I hear this all the time working at the polls.. We have a radio personality here n NC that i can not understand how he gets away with the horrible, hate speech he spouts 4 hours every day..

[Sarah Ibarruri]

17. Yes! Meanwhile, our candidates get silence. Democrats do not cheer their candidates on. nt

[knitter4democracy]

11. What about voter disenfranchisement?

A lot of our voters don't vote because they can't. In Detroit on Tuesday, there were many reports of people showing up at their regular polling place only to be told that they'd been redistricted to a new one. Some people went to up to four polling places--this, and with transportation/work issues, is how how keep people from voting.

Work hours, difficulties with IDs, transportation problems, you name it--there are many practical reasons why people don't vote. Add in how many feel their voice isn't heard or that they don't matter or count, and you get many of the rest.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. I never go to the polls. I work and don't feel like standing in line. I get my ballot at home

I fill it out at home, then I mail it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. I say it's laziness. They won't go to the polls unless their candidates get them all excited

about it. They're like children.

[BarackTheVote]

34. What a cynical sentiment

Call me an idealist, but politicians work for us, we don't work for them. Given the choice between a Republican in a red tie or a Republican in a blue tie, it's really not all that hard to see why people don't vote. It's not about being "excited," it's about not trusting Pseudocrats to legislate in the best interests of their constituents, especially when they're trying to out-conservative the conservative they're running against! Having a Democrat who acts like a Republican is worse than having a Republican for this reason: they justify the meme that there's no difference between the parties, and it's bad branding. Run a contrasting candidate who runs a on a populist platform and goes for the throat. Democrats can't run Reagan Republicans and expect to get progressives to turn out, they just can't; that's my take-away. Young Xers and Millennials by and large lean progressive, and have a strong anti-corporatist bent; running corporatists is not going to pick up their votes. You say they're cutting off their nose to spite their faces? No, the party is more interested in trying to pick off Republicans and appeal to big business than they are actually addressing the issues that materially effect Xers and Millennials. Now, I get that there are a lot of really good strong Democrats who do fight for these issues, but for the most part, they're not the ones who got kicked out of office on Tuesday, which should send a pretty strong message.

[zentrum]

15. Hate is

....very motivating. Dems aren't full of it.

We also have a bunch of mediocre, weak candidates who signal over and over that they won't fight for us. Why should I get my hopes up, pay for this new ID we're required to have, and take time off from work, unpaid, to vote for one of them?

( I speak metaphorically. Have voted in every election since I was 18.)

Dems don't inspire effort. Dems disrespect their base.

The Repug elite doesn't care about their base in any real terms either---but they fear them and always make sure to speak directly to them and to champion memes and legislation that please them---guns, abortion, Religion, Islam-fear etc.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

19. Wrong. Republicans will back their base no matter what because the alternative is Dems

Democrats will not back their candidates unless their candidates play pat-a-cake with them, get them all excited (like one does a toddler), and get them emotionally on board - OR - support the particular Democratic voter's one favorite issue. How stupid is that??? We Democrats are like babies. Unless our candidates get us all excited, we will NOT go to the polls. Pathetic, really.

[Johonny]

20. But the political science people say

Dems are about as liberal (perhaps even more so) than they've ever been. Republicans are the most conservative they've ever been. So you assume B is wrong, but the media and society has been telling them for years voting has little value so B pops back up don't it.

Personally I believe the factor missing is obviously the poor vote mostly Democratic and they tend to move often, live in communities they don't feel attached to, and are often focused on what they do today to get to tomorrow. If you look at districts with large residential populations and large transitory populations mixed together. The renters don't traditionally vote (particularly in off elections). People that own homes vote. I don't think this idea fits into either A or B but you can add A or B to it. If you have no ties or feeling about a community then you don't tend to feel urgency to vote to maintain that society mix. I think most of the poor-lower middle class have closer ties to churches etc than the community at large and the concept of community building. Just look at what is going on in Ferguson and spread that out across the nation. There is a heavy cost to being poor and a certain kind of social detachment is part of that cost.

[Rex]

22. How do you get more moderate and conservative dems to show up is the question.

Since both groups ALWAYS vote less than liberals, what makes the other two groups so lazy that they think they can sit out elections?

[Scootaloo]

27. well, no matter who wins, moderate and conservative democrats get the policies they want

[WestCoastLib]

24. The democrats lost some lifelong voters this cycle.

It wasn't ALL non voters.

I voted a straight democrat ticket and I live in a blue state, thankfully. But my brother has always been very liberal too. And he voted as well. He didn't vote for any R's, but he did vote some 3rd party candidates, when he has never done so before.

As a gen Xer, my first election was Clinton's second term and I voted for him. My second was Bush v. Gore. And I readily admit that i didn't vote Gore at that time (I didn't vote Bush either). Gore ran from Clinton, and insulted my intelligence by playing to the religious south and failed to paint himself as much different than Bush.

Now, my vote truly didn't matter. Gore won my state anyway. But my attitude did matter and the fact that Gore failed to provide any kind of message to my 23 year old self meant that he failed to do the same to millions of others.

The democratic party is playing the same game again, and losing.

[Stardust]

25. I've heard it said that only 50% of eligible Americans are registered to vote, and of those

registered, only 50% of them do vote. (But I never heard about the discrepancy between Dems and GOPers.)

These very same people who don't bother to register and/or vote would be the loudest ones raising hell if their right to vote was taken away from them. They might even bring out their guns! Yee haw!

[Chathamization]

29. Considering the tiny number of voters who bother to show up and support progressives in primaries,

I'd say option B (they're staying home because Democratic candidates are too conservative) doesn't seem to match reality.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. A) Is Too Insulting B) Is Too Convnenient

And you have no real basis in fact for either choice.

[NCTraveler]

31. I think it boils down to this.

Democrats are great at getting newly registered voters. The hold events and show up to events. The Republicans are more targeted. They gear themselves towards more likely voters.

This is a pattern I have seen in the past and I personally like our method. In the end we accomplish the same thing but our party supports the process itself, not just the winning aspect.

[B2G]

32. I think part of this is a reflection of successful registration drives

in 2008 and 2012. We registered a significant number of voters who aren't die hard voters normally.

It's not surprising that they have lost interest now that Obama is on the way out. They just aren't energized anymore.

[JonLP24]

35. With new voters

Probably lack of media hype, knowing where to vote, "more of a my 1 vote won't make a difference" probably don't help in midterms.