Why do peple not vote/research

[Devercia]

Hey guys, doing some research for school. Basicly, what are psychological, social or political reasons or any reason really for not voteing? Why do people not vote; for politics, serveys, any type of query for any reason? Why don't you vote for presedents, tax issues, or even for surveys?

Please discuss.

 

[Dissident]

In my country voting is mandatory, but if it wasnt Id vote anyway. I think that the very thought of "your vote means nothing" is what messes up elections, thats when people start to speculate and vote for one of the two that suposedly have more chances of wining, even if they dont like either of them, or they dont vote at all. It should be an honest, informed, throughly thought decision that reflects your idea of how things should be.

 

[Jordan~]

I won't vote because there's no one worth voting for. They're all as inadequate and uninspiring as eachother, and I couldn't care less who wins.

 

[Raison D'etre]

• Here we have the right to vote, if we want to that is. It is also means we have the right to not vote. Just because we can doesn't mean we have to. We don't have to vote just because an amendment said we could.
• People are afraid to vote. They don't want to have regrets later on about not voting for the right candidate.
• They also don't want to have to pick sides or be pressured to vote for candidates. Their decision could cause them to lose their friends or anger family members that don't agree with them. There is also the added bonus of people not valuing their beliefs or not viewing them the way they used to.
• Some people don't vote because the candidates aren't even worth our time. They believe the candidates aren't worthy of leading our nation.
• Others like to watch from the back and amuse themselves with the results and the stupidity of people. While others want to test our people's choices. They want to see if the people that do vote are on the same level as themselves before voting.

 

[eudemonia]

I often think about not voting because I do not wish to add legitimacy to a system that I think is more and more centralised and unaccountable.

We have a first past the post system and I know that whatever I vote, we will get a Conservative representative regardless - that's the part of the country I live in.

Many of our powers have been invested in the EEC. Our Euro MP's are elected according to proportional representation and have no accountability to individuals, a local party or a region. The level of corruption is high and many people I know who work in Brussels become cynical about the system and the type of people it attracts. This is a critical article by a conservative MEP http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/11/14/do1402.xml

People are cynical about the power of their vote to change anything. Every time we get a new scandal or war that nobody voted for, the cynicism index increases.

There are vested interests in all places of power and it takes a lot of energy and effort to change things (see above article). People are too comfortable and do not see the need to change. No need to change, no need to vote.

Younger people seem to be more wedded to single issue campaigns - probably because they feel more connected to them as an expression of their identity. Just a generation ago, people felt that a political party was an expression of their identity - now with an increasing blurring of party political differences, this is no longer the case. Left vs right, I am told by my daughter, is no longer relevant. Plus, the younger generation seem more apolitical. Current issues are more around how to manage the economy rather than based on idealogy and values (which are much more stirring and exciting).

 

[Decaf]

The United States is the land of the "majority" and the dispossessed. Somewhere along the road of history the people lost their country and now they despair. Look at the upcoming presidential election. Two candidates that both believe in aggressive foreign policy, liberal domestic and foreign spending during a time when the country is slowing going bankrupt.

In the age of television there can only be two sides. Limited time, maximum excitement. The terms "right" and "left" fit right into that culture and created this idea that there are only two spotlights under which to stand. People who do not like those places have two choices. Pick the lesser of two evils or stand alone in the dark. When neither of those options seem attractive, you don't vote at all. That's what's happened to the United States. We have a majority of the country not foolish enough to pick something they dislike, or brave enough to vote for something that is called foolish.

If you wanted to be accurate about our current choices, I'd call them E and NE rather than left and right. Hey, but at least we'll have either a half-black president or a woman vice president. Who cares if the country goes to shit because no one in power has any incentive to plan long-term? OK, I'm gonna stop before I get too excited

 

[Ermine]

Mainly because people are too disillusioned to try, and are sick and tired of the two party system limiting their choices.

 

[Devercia]

Interesting points. I don't want to contaminate your opinions with myself discussing it with you, but I would like to shift you to other instances of voting other than national politics. What about surveys, or "raise your hand if you read the chapter." type questions. More elaborately not necessarily voting but participation in polls when a person is already involved.

Also, I would like to know your own reasons for note voteing when your asked to.

 

[vic]

I hate politics.

I also know that my one insignificant vote wont make a difference. I also think people tend to vote based on the idea of utopia. There are things politicians propose that are gimmicks but are incredibly retarded for our economy. yet people still vote for that, and it has baffled me forever.

And the key point for not voting is mainly due to mail spam. If I vote, that means I will get voter ballots for other miscellaneous elections around my county. I remember the one time I did vote, I suffered some consequences. In addition to getting the spam in the mail, I also got summoned to jury duty a few times. Of course this was when i was in college. I moved again, and I haven't voted since.

 

[Kuu]

What for? To make a decision based on averages, basically guaranteeing mediocrity? No thanks...

Besides, most of the time that you are asked to participate, either your ideas are dismissed, or they are misunderstood, or stolen, or shittily implemented. So most of the times asking for another's opinion is just plainly dishonest when most decisions are taken on a whim...

 

[eudemonia]

it seems like there's an important link between voting and identity. People are tending to avoid voting because it in some way emphasises their powerlessness, their 'averageness', their conformity, the meaningless of their doing anything, the feeling that no-one listens to them etc. etc. Why go along with a system that negates your very existence? Re surveys - I know nothing about this but I have participated in surveys and research when:
- I believe in what the survey is trying to achieve
- I believe that my participation will make a difference to the outcome
- participation in some way contributes to a sense of meaning or purpose in my own
life.
Maybe political parties and voting are expressions of 20th century metanarratives and the class-based organisation of the mass. In the 21st century people, especially the young, are dismissing metanarratives and are searching for new forms of self expression and different ways of exploring identity.

 

[Dissident]

it seems like there's an important link between voting and identity. People are tending to avoid voting because it in some way emphasises their powerlessness, their 'averageness', their conformity, the meaningless of their doing anything, the feeling that no-one listens to them etc. etc. Why go along with a system that negates your very existence?

Someone is going to be elected anyway, if only with the votes of the ones affiliated to political parties. Isnt not voting beneficial for the two leading ones? Why not vote for the ones that have "no chance"? I bet there are millions of people not so happy with current elections, if they all had some courage they could make themselves heard

 

[Agent Intellect]

i think people not voting is simply laziness. the polls are only open for one day, on a tuesday (work day) so everyone is going to be there in the few hours after work before the polls close, so people would just rather not go stand in line, or drive in the snow/rain/other bad weather, or miss their favorite show or whatever. the second biggest reason, i'd have to agree, is people just deciding their vote doesn't mean anything anyway or that they don't feel like choosing between a douche bag and a turd sandwich.

 

[Decaf]

Except that in many states you have alternative means of voting. In Oregon its a mail-in ballot, and our numbers aren't much better than everyone else's. I think its much more affected by people's inability to see what kind of impact they have on the process. If you live in a district that is vastly one way or another, you actually don't have any impact (since the popular vote doesn't count), so why bother?

Being a Libertarian I'm stuck in that situation no matter where I live. I vote so that people understand that not all of us will submissively choose to stand on either side of a nonexistent line, but I have no real impact on the results of the election that I'm voting in.

 

[SafetyInNumbers]

I don't vote for a couple of reasons, I can't be bothered and really it doesn't matter who runs the damn country they are all controlled by the big companies who funded their damn election anyway, so ultimately the country is ran by business men and women who care only about getting moer money. Waste of bloody time then. Viva la revolution

 

[Agent Intellect]

laziness could account for the mail in ballots, too. the same reason some people don't mail in rebates, where they'll actually receive money for their efforts, and yet choose not to go through the "trouble". as for me, i know i'm voting for either a douche bag or a turd sandwich, in which case i'll usually vote for the douche. its a terrible system that badly needs reworking, but thats not the point i'm trying to make here lol.

 

[Vrecknidj]

In the United States, there are many reasons people do not vote.

1) Some people have employers who do not give them time off.
2) Some people feel that everyone in politics is immoral, so it makes no difference who wins an election.
3) Some people have the rather peculiar trait of only wanting to vote for the person who wins, and, if they are uncertain enough of the winner, they will not vote so that they aren't in the uncomfortable position of having voted for the loser. (Really, I'm not making this up.)
4) There are some issues for which any particular voter might be woefully uninformed, and sometimes people choose not to vote on issues about which they have no substantial opinion.
5) Some people don't vote because they don't know how, don't know that they can, have never had anyone help them register, or other similar reasons.
6) Some people don't vote as a sign of protest. Sadly, this doesn't usually work. Regarding Presidential elections, I'd much rather every ballot have a "None of the Above" entry so that protest voters would be able to announce their protest.

Dave

 

[Jesin]

Besides, most of the time that you are asked to participate, either your ideas are dismissed, or they are misunderstood, or stolen, or shittily implemented.

Not even mutually exclusive.

 

[Raison D'etre]

Interesting points. I don't want to contaminate your opinions with myself discussing it with you, but I would like to shift you to other instances of voting other than national politics. What about surveys, or "raise your hand if you read the chapter." type questions. More elaborately not necessarily voting but participation in polls when a person is already involved.

Also, I would like to know your own reasons for note voteing when your asked to.

I was thinking about this today. I came up with different scenarios of what students would be thinking. There was one that made me laugh.

What kind of a teacher is this? Why does he have to ask us whether or not we read? He doesn't trust us enough to read a couple of chapters! You know what, I'm not gonna raise my hand. I am not going to answer to a teacher who doesn't trust his students!

 

[zxc]

Very good posts... Good thing the INTPs know what's going on, at least.

 

[Decaf]

laziness could account for the mail in ballots, too.

I always have to bring up American Idol voting in an argument like this. They do a good job on that show of making the viewer feel like they have an affect even though the results don't matter AT ALL.

 

[Jordan~]

I think I'd far rather most of the people who vote in American Idol or its equivalents (you stole it from us - a cultural contribution the UK shouldn't be proud of) didn't vote in general elections.

 

[Decaf]

I think I'd far rather most of the people who vote in American Idol or its equivalents (you stole it from us - a cultural contribution the UK shouldn't be proud of) didn't vote in general elections.

Why? Because they're stupid? They disagree with you on how interesting reality television is, but that doesn't make them unable to vote in an intelligent manner. Don't they have just as much a right to decide how the government treats them as you do?

And THANKS A BUNCH for the Idol garbage

 

[Jordan~]

Perhaps I'm generalising (I did say "most", not "all") but I imagine that yes, most of them are somewhat stupid - I'm fairly sure that can be said of any demographic, though. And really, I think the people who know best (or at least, who know that they have sound reasons for voting as they do) have more of a say than the people who know nothing. These are people who are clearly vulnerable to being influenced by the media - or else, why would they be voting on American Idol? And over there, the mainstream news media is so politically biased I could retch. The BBC occasionally tentatively cast the party they want to win in a more positive light - generally the one that isn't in power, it makes a better story - but never to the shameless extent of such "news" programs as Fox News. These poor idiots are defenseless against everything they hear.
I don't buy the whole democracy thing - at best it's mob rule justified through the ballot box, at worst it's a popularity contest. In my experience, the majority are wrong more than half the time. The fact that the entire democratic system is based on argumentum ad populum doesn't help. And the whole Idol thing repulses me for so many reasons.
Perhaps the subject for research shouldn't be why some people don't vote, but why most people shouldn't?

 

[Decaf]

http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html

As you can see people have been supporting the right of voting only to people like themselves. I'm not saying what you're suggesting is racist. I just think in some ways its personality'ist (I've got to find a better word for that).

 

[Jordan~]

I'm not saying it should be restricted to INTPs - just that it should be done away with altogether. I don't feel comfortable with millions of people who "think", in the loosest sense of the word, using only their emotions when selecting the people who'll run the country. Maybe that is personality-ist towards the Fs, but hey, they ought to stick to what they're good at and defer to the proper authority when it comes to affairs requiring cool, logical thinking. I don't go messing up their midwivery and whatnot. As it is, the people in the UK seem to do fairly well, by comparison at least - not that there's any difference between Labour and the Tories. When Labour are doing poorly, they elect the Conservatives. When the Conservatives are doing poorly, they elect Labour. It's a kind of accidental meritocracy where everyone is inept anyway.

 

[Decaf]

I don't go messing up their midwivery and whatnot..

Feelers make up most of the General Practitioners, Veterinarians, Non-Profit Founders/Managers, Counselors, Teachers, Diplomats, Psychologists, etc... Specifying midwivery sounds a little personalityist

Remember... feeling is still a rational decision making process. The difference between thinking and feeling is specifically this: One focuses on the objective, the other on the subjective. Feeling is an often neglected part of the decision making process because of how much stigma is against its inclusion, but that function is what you need to create solutions that other people (even people like you) will go along with. We spend so much time on the "right" solution that we often don't take into account whether the solution will be acceptable to others and if its not acceptable, it becomes merely an academic exercise. I think INTPs have a big problem with having their brilliant insights become "academic exercises" for that reason. That's due to our inferior function being extraverted feeling (the function that helps us understand what other people think about something).

Here's what I think (as if you haven't already heard too much outta me today)... Feelers like voting for American Idol more than general elections because there is so much conflict around the general election and they don't feel strong enough about any particularly candidate to risk embroiling themselves in it. What's to feel strongly about anyway? We have our favorites, but most of us know at best we're only replacing a cog, when its the machine that's unacceptable. Thinkers like conflict, and so they'll go ahead and plunge forward. Feelers dislike conflict, and so they hang back and vote on American Idol or Britain's Got Talent.

The exception, of course, are feelers that feel very strongly. In those cases, theres no way in hell you'll keep them from voting.

What was I talking about? Ugh... I need to take a forum break.

 

[Agent Intellect]

ok, i concede, laziness probably isn't the main factor in people not voting. but i whole heartedly agree that american idol is on the top five list of worst shows on the air.

 

[Decaf]

ok, i concede, laziness probably isn't the main factor in people not voting. but i whole heartedly agree that american idol is on the top five list of worst shows on the air.

I completely agree with that Agent. My personal belief is that Hell was invented for the creators of reality television, and only them. Its more of a physical law than a religious belief.

 

[zxc]

You can safely-enough interchange 'democracy' and 'two-party-dictatorship' in today's world (but only in your head; if you actually say it, you're liable to get secretly bound, gagged, and shot).

 

[Jordan~]

I'm fairly sure I could go down to Speakers Corner in London and say exactly that and go on to live a long and fulfilling life.

 

[Jesin]

Yeah, freedom of speech is not that restricted.

Even so, the only outdated parts of 1984 are the year number and the technology.

 

[ElectricWizard]

I wouldn't vote right now because I'm a De Leonist. The SLP has no candidate, and the working class is not organized. I don't like supporting plutocracy, which is the feature of almost all developed countries.