There has been a lot of things that have bothered me greatly about the 2016 election results. Among them is the amount of people who did not show up to vote.
Because I can be a bit of nerd at times and actually enjoy playing with numbers, I thought I'd piece some together and share them with you. Please note that they are not 100% accurate because for the life of me, I couldn't find two information websites that agreed on anything- even the numbers.
Here is what I did find:
According to www.census.gov/popclock, there are approximately 324,914,686 people in the United States of America. Of those, approximately 233,556,622 of them are eligible to vote based on age and state voting laws (www.electproject.org/2016). I attempted to look for numbers on how many are registered to vote, but all I could find was articles as to why there is no way to actually track that because of each state's different methods of voting eligibility.
Of the 233.6 million eligible voters, only 133,983,600 voted (www.electproject.org/2016).
That is only 57.4% of eligible voters voting.
It's also 41.2% of America's population as a whole that determined what 100% of America's next president will be.
Let's break it down a bit more.
Of that 57.4% of voters-
45.4% voted for Clinton
44.9% for Trump
9.7% for third party and a dead gorilla
(www.pbs.org/newshour/features/2016-election-results)
And now we go further down.
Of eligible voters (remember 42.6% of these didn't vote)
26% voted for Clinton
25.8% voted for Trump
5.5% voted for third party & dead gorilla
Because I like to see a much bigger picture.
Of people in the US
18.7% voted for Clinton
18.5% voted for Trump
4% voted for third party & dead gorilla
What does this tell me and why am I sharing it???
A small fraction of us made our voices heard... BTW... I voted in the 5.5% because I believe that is the change we need (not the dead gorilla, the third party). I wonder, though, what would have happened if even 60% came out to vote? Would things have been completely different today? Something to ponder for sure.
On a big side note...
I get that people are angry because they fear the unknown. I understand that there are radicalism in all circles of this country that make a group look bad even though they represent a small fraction of that group. What I don't get is why people are not speaking out loudly against the non-voter?
I truly wonder how many of the anti-Trump protesters voted in the first place. Or the parents of the kids that are telling classmates that they will be moving to Mexico soon. Do the people who are beating up Trump supporters vote? Do they represent the entire Clinton brigade? Do those who are threatening people of more pigmentation represent all of Trump's fans? Do the radical Muslim suicide bombers represent the Muslims in our great nation? Do the mass shooters represent those who support the 2nd Amendment?
Please, people of America, STOP generalizing each other.
If change is what you seek, then by all means, make your vote count by VOTING!!!
Then be the change you want to see. Stand up for what so many people fought for... equality for all.
Wear your safety pin if you need to feel better about you (I'd do your research though on this...from my research, it doesn't look like it's meaning is as benevolent as you would think).
Treat people like you want to be treated.
And for Heaven's sake.... stop fearing for the future. PLEASE!!! You are only scaring your kids and they need to be strong, self-thinking adults for when they run the nation- not coddled babies that need playdoh and bubbles to get them through life.
PS... check out this video of the electoral college if you still don't understand why we have that in place.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/what-is-the-us-electoral-college-and-how-does-it-work/vp-AAk4byE
No comments:
Post a Comment