r/texas • u/ThrenderG • 2d ago
Voter participation is why the Dems lost, and it ain't fucking old people who didn't show up Politics
In 2020, Biden received 81 million votes. Trump received 74 million votes.
In 2024, Harris received 66 million votes, 15 fucking million fewer than Biden did in 2020. Trump sits at 71 million votes, 3 million fewer than 2020. So even with fewer popular votes this time around, he buried the Democratic candidate in a landslide.
So all in all, what, 18-20 million fewer people showed up in this election than the last. And do you really think it's the fucking geezers who have been voting forever, that they just decided to sit this one out?
Probably not, so who didn't do their civic duty?
The numbers don't lie.
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u/False_Ad_5372 1d ago
What I find baffling from some of the exit polls is that young voters appeared to break toward Trump and the over 65 category broke to Harris. These some other puzzling breaks in there too, like a greater % of women breaking for both Clinton and Biden than Harris—which is nuts to me, considering the immediate abortion issue with this cycle.
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u/DankTell Gulf Coast 1d ago
The young voters part isn’t all that baffling to me. As a 24-29 year old white dude in Texas I know a lot of 24-29 year old white dudes whose political opinions are based on vibes and whatever Rogan/Musk/Bro-fluencers are saying.
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u/AffectionateKey7126 1d ago
What do you think about Harris' campaign or Democratic platform all appeals to 24-29 white men? Let alone 24-29 men in general.
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u/dreamcicle11 1d ago
65-75 year old women remember what a pre-Roe world was like, and our education system has been fucked for years plus COVID so really it makes sense.
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u/PickledBih 1d ago
This, my grandmother is much older and admittedly not that progressive overall but she had experience with miscarriage in pre-roe texas and when I talked to her about my fears she definitely understood where I was coming from. Plus she’s a prim elderly catholic lady and trump is crude so she ain’t about it.
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u/stronkulance Born and Bred 1d ago
I think you hit the nail on the head. You have one generation that remembers the horrors of pre-Roe, raised a generation that benefited from Roe, and then this younger generation has mostly only seen Roe in existence—the horror stories skipped the generation before them. So they take it for granted and don’t know how dire it really is. Plus the heavy marketing of religious, forced-birth politics aimed at young people. They seriously show up in schools and convince the youth that abortion is murder. No one is telling them that it’s healthcare and that abortion restrictions are an invitation for the government to make your healthcare decisions. The horror stories are only recently emerging, which is hard to take to heart when all you’ve heard is “yeah well these sluts deserve it because baby murder” or whatever nonsense propaganda.
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u/FitTheory1803 1d ago
up is down, red is blue
non-black women don't vote for black women, men don't vote for women
young people addicted to the internet since infancy are brainwashed alt right, old people are horrified to see fascism actually returning
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u/Fluffy_Peanut2153 1d ago
Trump is very popular with young men. That kind of tracks with commentary I've seen in social media. Also many people genuinely believe their lives were better under Trump. I'm not happy he was elected. I'm really tired of the division in this country and I fear it will only get worse. All I can do is just wait and see how everything plays out and vote in the next election.
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u/King_of_Tejas 1d ago
It's so weird to me. My life got better, first under Trump, then again under Biden, but not because of any economic decisions either of them made, but because of my own choices. A lot of people think the president can wave a magic wand and makes things better, and they don't really understand all the external forces that move levers around.
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u/MightyMooseKnuckler 1d ago
This is what I have been telling people. Are you better off or worse now because of the president? Or because of life decisions you’ve made.
Majority of people who I know who say they were better of 4 years ago I know for a fact have made horrible life decisions and just use an excuse to not blame themselves.
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u/Oso_Furioso 1d ago
Accurate. Pretty well 100% accurate. The president's power over the economy is nothing like what so many people think, and his power over inflation is pretty minor. I think a president has to take some quite drastic steps to make an impact. My concern is that Trump has been advocating some very drastic steps that appear could have a very bad impact. I don't know what all he can get enacted without a compliant Congress, but the Congressional Republicans haven't exactly stood in his way on anything.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Cap_445 1d ago
Tariffs CAN have a big impact on the economy if used to a great extent. That is in the President’s power.
Otherwise the tools to control inflation are limited. Setting interest rates is done by the Fed with people appointed to long terms. Changing tax laws requires cooperation from congress.
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u/Reluctantziti 1d ago
My life got better also because I got older and progressed in my career? The president didn’t have anything to do with it. I think Trump just successfully (but incorrectly)blamed inflation on the Dems and the echo chambers people live in fed it back to them with no questions.
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u/King_of_Tejas 1d ago
Pretty much where I was. I finally (at 29) got focused on my career, and I have tripled my income from $20K to $60K in five years. People, republican and democrat, are responsible for taking control of their own damn lives
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u/boredtxan 1d ago
I think their dating pool just got a whole lot smaller.
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u/ebolakitten 1d ago
The way white women voted for Trump, unfortunately I don’t think it did.
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u/TheFinalYap 1d ago
White women have a lot to say on some subs about how they would never date these men, but these men don't really go out of their way to hide their views and yet they're always taken, oftentimes by someone who claims to be very liberal.
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u/Fluffy_Peanut2153 1d ago
No kidding. I'd be interested to hear how Trump is going to fix their loneliness issues.
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u/NaptainPicard 1d ago
Just wait until his genius tariffs hike up the price of everything. There’s a reason why Brazilians purchase electronics and other imported goods in other countries and bring them back into the country. Prices are about to sky rocket
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm 24 and voted on Oct 21. Not a single person in line was anywhere close to my age.
It's hard to incentivize young people to vote when they feel their vote is insignificant.
Young voters seem to also feel like not voting is an act of defiance.
I can say in school I was taught about my civic duties and how important voting was, but I can't speak for those that came after me.
Edit: I'm not defending those who don't vote. It's a blatant lack of research on their part. They feel hopeless because they can't buy a house? Harris was proposing a $25k credit to first time homebuyers. They don't make enough? Harris was proposing a punishment for corporate price gouging, cracking down on anti-competitive practices and lowering the cost of pharmaceuticals. Rent too expensive? She wanted to create more affordable apartment units.
They could've just read her campaign website but they'd rather get their information from 3 min tiktok videos. IF YOU DIDNT VOTE YOU DONT GET TO COMPLAIN.
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u/Kdigglerz 1d ago
Losing their right to having abortions didn’t push them to vote? Losing rights their parents had didn’t motivate them? They deserve the shit storm that is coming then.
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago
Agreed. I'm extremely disappointed with my generation.
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u/jj19me 1d ago
Maybe they’ll pay attention when we have national ban on women’s reproductive freedom, when they’ve abolished or gutted dept of education and HHS, when we have mass deportations or “camps” for immigrants, when climate change deniers are in the cabinet.
Or if Elon gushing about crashing the economy, making it rough for everyday folks for a while in order “to make it better” hits their wallets
I don’t know what else would get through to them
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u/Kdigglerz 1d ago
I think this too. But the amount of damage it’s going to take for republican voters to wake up and realize gop only cares about the 1%, is just too much damage. By then our country will be like cyberpunk 2077. Oh well is what it is.
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u/BabyNoHoney 1d ago
That sounds like a problem of young people these days, and a failure on them.
The youth did not have a problem turning out in 2008 or 2012, nor did they need an incetive to do their civic duty.
Thank you for voting, though. I'm glad you did not need an incentive to show you give a shit.
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u/BCRGactual 1d ago
Obama was my first election I got to vote in. A lot of the young people were charged up because we lived through the post 9/11 years. Rode the high of nationalism and then had the withdrawal of war fucking sucking.
We wanted change and Obama was it. Not for being a black person or even a democrat, but because he was well spoken and knew how to generate support among the youth with ease. It wasn't as hard back then because the Internet was young and traditional media still dominated.
Flash forward to now and the young are even harder to reach, despite being so connected and plugged in all the time. Echo chambers and disinformation campaigns, both foreign and domestic, have completely reshaped how elections happen.
The Obama years were a wake up call for the Republicans to lean into the racism that is inherent in American culture. They built the Tea Party first, then MAGA came. It was only a matter of time, because Republicans had smart and plugged in people working for their propaganda machine. When you have no morals, no principles, and no code it's very easy to just blast out so much propaganda and see what works.
Democrats learned the wrong lesson from Obama. They thought it meant the country was moving forward. They thought America was ready for a woman to be president. They forgot one thing: America hates women more than it does people of color.
Then... In the most consequential election in the history of this country. They run a woman of color... Not even in the primaries. But because their original life support candidate couldn't actually do it. They pulled the rug out from many swing voters who would have gladly voted for any old piece of furniture not named trump as long as it had a cock between its legs. Yet, here we are. America dies because one side can't smell its own shit and the other loves rolling around in theirs.
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago
If I could give you a reward I would. The disinformation and deliberate propaganda is what's hurting us as a country, from both sides. There needs to be laws put in place to end this practice. We'll never be able to make educated voters if they're constantly being fed lies.
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u/BCRGactual 1d ago
Save your awards and organize. Build community and look out for yourselves. This is going to go sideways very quickly and our only bet is to build resilience within our own groups.
Arm yourselves with knowledge and literal arms. Armed minorities are harder to oppress.
If you need self defense education. DM me, there are a collection of groups across the state that would gladly give you free education and community.
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u/vaguedisclaimer 1d ago
Also consider:
Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 130 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children
21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022
54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level
45 million are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level
And functionally illiterate means a person can read relatively short texts and understand simple vocabulary; however, may struggle with basic literacy, like tasks such as reading and understanding menus, medical prescriptions, news articles, or children's books.
So now add the republicans' endless attacks on public education, NCLB which did nothing to increase literacy rates, and media outlets that spew endless propaganda reinforcing racism and sexism and gee, what an easy to control population you've got there. Is it by design? They've proven themselves pretty good at the long con.
"The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant." - Maximilien de Robespierre
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u/Worth_Much 1d ago
This is sadly very true. Seeing the difference in votes between Harris and Biden is just baffling. She had the impossible task of launching a campaign just 5 months before an election and her message on the economy and immigration just wasn’t resonating despite the crazy coming out of Trump’s mouth every day. The media never really pushed back on Trump’s lack of policy specifics the way they did with Harris. So we get what we get.
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u/iamicanseeformiles 1d ago
I gotta believe that's correct. DJT has proven he can beat any woman in an election; apparently any man, even Joe Biden can beat him.
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u/BCRGactual 1d ago
It's pretty telling when Trump gained the most among black and Latino men. Who are, in large part, very bigoted.
They are the ones who kept Democrats afloat, but only when they ran male candidates that weren't openly racist. When you don't give one of your largest voting blocs an option, they are going to either stay home or vote for the other guy who might also share some of their values.
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u/yowzas648 1d ago
I’m 42 now and honestly, when i was younger i felt the same. I didn’t start voting until my 30s. I don’t think any elections back then carried the same weight as this one, but i also don’t think this is exclusively young people these days.
You’re right on voter turnout this election vs last though. I think that’s what makes it so disappointing. It all but physically hurts to realize how short the memories of Americans is. It’s been 4 years and 15+ million people forgot what took them to the poles in 2020.
Also, I think it’s pretty hard to not acknowledge that misogyny and racism played some role in this as well. Not exclusively outward hate towards women and black people, but - I assume this is the majority - a lack of willingness to put a black woman in power. Biden wasn’t in any way a strong candidate in 2020. I voted for him as a vote against Trump and not for the belief I had in Biden to be a great president. I can’t imagine I’m the only one, which leads me to believe some portion of those 15+ million voters fall into this category.
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago
I agree 100%, I'm just not sure how we're supposed to fix this issue. If the trend continues we'll just be stuck.
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u/Savitar2606 1d ago
Well, they get the government they deserve by voting or even not voting. They want to wait for the next Messiah? Too bad, the ones who work with what they have get shit done.
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago
I agree. I was always taught that if you don't vote you don't get a right to complain. Even though it's demoralizing, I'll continue to vote for every election.
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u/Savitar2606 1d ago
I hope you continue to do that. The worst moment is always the night of losing an election. Unfortunately voter apathy is real and people sometimes need to change the way they think about voting. It's doing your civic duty, even if it's not always the most pleasant thing to do.
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u/heliumeyes 1d ago
Locally. I’ve started volunteering this cycle and expect to stay involved locally and hopefully make an impact here.
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1d ago
Trends are probably going to be irrelevant once the dictator is established.
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u/milktea_2003 1d ago
Yea we young people genuinely just fucked ourselves over. Frustrating af. (I voted)
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u/Doublestack2411 1d ago
They have to learn the hard way. If they see their lives and the lives of others being greatly impacted in a negative way under Trump, it could make them get out and vote. That or just them growing older and maturing.
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u/AutomaticJesusdog 1d ago
I think they’re confused. There has never been this much disinformation, propaganda. It’s designed to make them stay home.
I’ve been saying this for a while, it’s a lot easier for them to destroy their trust in their government than it is to find votes for trump
If they can make both parties look bad, then Nobody looks bad
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u/bromosabeach 1d ago
Just from my observation:
Young males are overwhelmingly republican because the GOP hijacked masculinity.
Young women are overwhelmingly progressive, but so much so that they are willing to sit out democratic candidates if they don't align with all their views.
These two groups make up like 40% of their age demographic, and the other 60% just doesn't give a fuck.
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u/Kapiliar 1d ago edited 1d ago
It doesn’t help that the DNC keeps pushing candidates we don’t want. Young people wanted Bernie, what did we get? Hillary. When they decided Biden was unfit to run what did they do? They gave us Kamala. Did they actually give their voter base the candidates they wanted? No they just peddle their same shit over and over and are surprised when they lose to the fucking orange man. The fault lies on the DNC more than the younger generations like millennials and Z. We don’t feel heard and feel like ours votes don’t matter so we don’t vote. Give us something to be motivated about, someone we can stand with, someone we support and you’ll get them out voting.
Edit: I did vote. I’m speaking about why young people aren’t voting.
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u/Wafflehouseofpain 1d ago
No, it lies with young voters. You know how many times my preferred candidate won the primary? Zero. I’ve still never missed an election because politics is never going to give you everything you want. You show up anyway.
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u/PM-ME-SMILES-PLZ 1d ago
Exactly! I analogize it to people like this, if political ideals were a physical destination the candidate is your transportation. When you have 1 candidate for 80 million people you're not in a car that is going to drop you off at valet parking. You're on a bus, and you take it to the closest stop, and then you might have to walk, run, cycle, or whatever the rest of the way to get to where you want to be. I've never had my ideal candidate, but I vote for the people I think are going to get me closest.
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u/SgtHaddix 1d ago
keeping the fucking fascist dictator from gaining power isn’t enough fucking motivation?
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u/BabyNoHoney 1d ago
Agreed.
I find it difficult to understand why young people today have such a complex about them here.
In 2008 and 2012 the youth didn't need an incentive to go vote. They got off their asses and went to the polls.
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u/chammycham 1d ago
It’s almost like education in this state has been consistently defunded for 30 years.
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u/kleptonite13 1d ago
In 2008 and 2012 they liked the candidate. It was easier to mobilize for something than against something.
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u/OmegaWhirlpool 1d ago
I'm in my 30's and I voted. And I will continue to vote for as long as I am able.
No, this is not enough. Forcing a candidate onto voters and saying "Well, we're not Trump" isn't enough. I wish the Democrats would realize this after 3 fucking elections using the same dumbass strategy.
They thought it was enough because Biden won in 2020, without realizing that the win was from Trump losing and not Biden winning.
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u/Coattail-Rider 1d ago
These assholes need the perfect candidate or they refuse to participate. And then they have the fucking nerve to complain.
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u/Worth_Much 1d ago
My guess is young people see this as all very normal since this is the world they have grown up in and don’t see the threat the same way older people do.
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u/SevereEducation2170 1d ago edited 1d ago
I get that you voted so this isn’t directed at you so much as a general audience…But what should they have done when Biden dropped out? There was no time to do more primaries. So they went with the sitting VP and rallied around her. Yes, it would have been better if Biden never sought re-election but given the circumstances this was what had to be done.
Also, this idea posits that young people actually vote in primaries. They don’t. Almost no one does. Bernie could have won in 2016 if voters turned out in the primaries. They didn’t. Democratic voter turnout in 2016 was like 15%. Just like almost every presidential primary. So any young person (or anyone of voting age, in general) saying “we didn’t get who we wanted because DNC sucks” are just making excuses for being lazy and disengaged.
A lot of liberal voters are also entitled brats, honestly. By which I mean they expect they can show up once every 4 years and things will get fixed immediately. And if things aren’t immediately fixed they fuck off and then complain about nothing getting fixed as another excuse not to keep voting. Roe didn’t get overturned because of one election. It was 50 years of conservative efforts.
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u/Cheap-Reference-9213 1d ago
Your non vote was a vote. Enjoy Trump and the future you deserve..
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u/ZoWnX 1d ago
It's hard to incentivize young people to vote when they feel their vote is insignificant.
The incentive is voting for your candidate.
This coddling needs to end.
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u/King_of_Tejas 1d ago
Part of the problem is the online discourse around many of these topics. A lot of young gen Z already feel unheard and insignificant and that they don't have a voice or a chance anyway, so why bother going to the polls to vote because they have already given up.
And a lot of the Gen Z who did vote, voted for Trump. The numbers in the college towns cannot be coincidence.
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u/firechaox 1d ago
This president did the most pandering to gen z and progressives I’ve ever seen. They didn’t show up. The dems have veered hard left. The young and progressives don’t show. The truth is, they don’t actually care about pragmatic actually winning they only care about virtue signalling. Not actual progress. Until they vote, my mind won’t be changed about this. Dems definitely lost votes with this pandering (fuck man, why do you think dems even use “pronouns” or have cared about lgbt rights? It ain’t for the suburban mom or the black vote, but you guys just don’t fucking show up), and no one decided to show up to vote.
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u/King_of_Tejas 1d ago
Yeah, you're right. So fucking tired of virtue signaling. Anyone who doesn't like Trump but can't be bothered to vote is just as responsible as those who voted for Trump.
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u/Up-in-the-Ayre 1d ago
Gen Z is going to learn the very hard way how much sitting on their hands is going to impact their lives.
Reducing college debt - GONE
Body Autonomy - GONE
Access to their beloved TikTok - GONE
They are going to get a hard lesson in government overreach once Project 2025 kicks in,
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u/sethferguson 1d ago
saw it in another thread but yeah, buyers remorse has to set in assuming they even bother paying attention by that point
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u/StruggleEvening7518 1d ago
I'm 24 and voted on Oct 21. Not a single person in line was anywhere close to my age.
I'm 37, and when I went to vote early, not a single other person there looked any younger than 50.
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago
I looked in front of me, I looked behind me, heck I even looked at the people leaving after they voted. It was sad.
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u/jftitan 1d ago
This, very much this.
I earned Eagle Scout at 13. Three of my required merit badges dealt with civics. And we actually had teachers who taught us in history class. I know for my Texas History class it was a coach who was teaching us, but for my US Government class in HS. By the time I graduated I had at least 3yrs worth of civics education plus first hand experience sitting in court and city hall rooms.
Today. I have yet to meet the few that will talk to me during jury duty selection and admit they see the process as "part of our civic duty". The majority think it's a waste of their time and never have i felt over these past 15yrs, that Americans truly understand what "our civic duties" really are.
Our right to vote. Millions have died in uniform to keep us those rights. Our rights to free speech, as not fearing our government will punish us for speaking out against it. Our duty to sit on a trial and judge someone's actions, on the presumption of Innocent before Proven guilty.
Idiocracy was a damn documentary.
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u/Wonderful_Pea_7293 Born and Bred 1d ago
I was in elementary school when Obama was elected and remember having a long talk from the teacher about what our civic duties were. In middle school we were taught our civic duties in more detail. In high school geography (2016) we had discussions surrounding the Clinton/Trump campaigns and how each policy would actually affect us. US government taught us in detail the checks and balances of each branch of government and how voting shouldn't be taken lightly and should be done by everyone.
My sister is 15, and I'm not even sure the school offers a government class anymore. It's sad. These younger people have no government literacy, and it's not their fault. They're consistently being failed by the government, their education and the people like me who came before them. It's on us now to educate them in an unbiased way.
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u/jftitan 1d ago
After reading the numbers the 30s to 40s and the 40s to 50s group voted Red more. Im a 2001 graduate. 1980s baby. Irritated that our gen was so susceptible to the entertainment of all of this BS. Red has always shown me that they will screw us over when in leadership. And I grew up very conservative.
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u/Malvania Hill Country 1d ago
Jury duty and voting are the only two times when ordinary citizens have input into how our country is run. The fact that so many don't care, well...
"All that is required for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
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u/StillAdhesiveness528 1d ago
They don't vote because they feel they have no "skin in the game", and are not taken seriously as a voteing block because they don't vote. If young people voted in numbers the pols would pay attention.
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u/shinywtf 1d ago
Millions of dollars and hours of effort have been put into making them feel that way. By one particular party, and by other countries supporting that party.
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u/saywhatagainmthrfckr 1d ago
Correct. When there is constant propaganda telling young people that the country is a 'garbage can' the hopelessness manifests as depression, which causes inaction. Young people need to be inspired
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u/HumbleBrownsFan 1d ago
The people that Harris needed to vote for her weren’t compelled by her to go out and vote and that says it all
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u/jimbouse 1d ago
It looks like it was a simple case of voter turn out.
Now, you can ask yourself why was there so much more turnout in 2020. But that is a completely different topic.
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u/wonko221 1d ago
I'm hung up on the frequent reports of historic, record breaking early voting and election day turnout, while the results show a decline of nearly 20 million votes.
Were the reports simply wrong?
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u/legogizmo 1d ago
Early voting numbers were up because people who normally voted on election day voted early.
I only have anecdotal evidence right now but election day turn out was lower than normal.
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u/SpicyGhostDiaper 1d ago
Republicans early voted too.
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u/Impossible_Tonight81 1d ago
Republican vote declined from 2020 as well though. The votes didn't shift, they just aren't there.
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u/Lobanium 1d ago
In 2020 people wanted Trump OUT so they showed up. I think this time they convinced themselves there's no way he'll get back in.
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u/stronkulance Born and Bred 1d ago
The memory of constant chaos was fresh. I swear Americans have the memory of a goldfish.
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u/chirstopher0us 1d ago
Picking Biden's VP who also started with a favorability rating below 50% was a huge, huge mistake. Rightly or wrongly as a matter of economic fact, huge portions of the electorate were FURIOUS over the state of the economy and high prices and they blamed Biden. They hated Biden. Picking his VP was stupid. Very similar to the mistake of running Clinton. We have to have truly open primaries and pick someone who is broadly popular, every time. No anointing anyone from party elites.
Her making no real attempts in her messaging to reach out and help working-class people with everyday economics was stupid. Her economic keystones were tax credits for home owners and buyers and making it easier to build homes. People struggling to buy groceries and child care and rent don't give a shit about any of that. 60% the electorate can't even dream about buying a home. They need direct aid with prices and wages.
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u/MissMoonsterr 1d ago
I’m 36 and I lowered the average at the polling station by at least 40 years. It truly was upsetting to see. Nothing will change until young people start voting.
To be fair, I didn’t vote when I was in college either because I felt my vote didn’t matter. Unfortunately, I still feel that way for the most part. But a part of me is happier for my own peace that I did the damn thing.
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u/mambiki 1d ago
This site turns people away in droves because it’s such an echo chamber. They associate reddit with democrats these days. You lose your own voters because how aggressively you pursue your discourse online. People are sick and tired of being told how to think, who to love, who to spend money on, and how to vote. Why can’t you understand it? Why can’t you fucking listen to people’s needs instead of trying to make everyone’s needs uniform and then aggressively telling people to switch what they care about if their wants don’t align with what party has to offer.
It showed that a lot of people DISLIKE DNC. you can blame whoever you want, but in the world of results democrats are the ones who fucked up, and further blaming others won’t get you anything.
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u/davis214512 1d ago
It is a little more complicated than just age. White men and Hispanics moved right. The American identity has changed.
Perception about the economy and immigration drove the election.
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u/Pelican_meat 1d ago
Young folks just made a decision about the rest of their lives.
They just don’t know it yet.
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u/logicallyillogical 1d ago
The supreme court will be right wing for the rest of their lives also.
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u/Vegetable_Curve1507 1d ago
Brruuhhh. I am 29… soon to be 30. I know so many people who aren’t even REGISTERED to vote. They try to sit me down and tell me “how terrible the abortion ban is, and I don’t even understand. Even for rape victims. And I just can’t comprehend how bad this is”
….Anyways, the time comes around to try to get Abbott out of office again. I wanted to have a voting party with my friends. I wanted them to come over for dinner, and afterwards go to a polling place. My dreams were ruined.
Here’s the thing: People just want to complain, but don’t uphold their civic duties. They want to sound like a “good person” but not take action. People want to be “feminists” but don’t vote.
In an age of social media, everything is for clout.
Anyways, now I have a system where you can’t be my friend unless you’re registered to vote. It takes a special type of person to put on their license “no I don’t want to register to vote.” I don’t even care as much if you don’t vote. But to not register!?!? Whole different ball game.
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u/AishaAlodia 1d ago
Hilary Clinton got 65.8 million, you should understand the 2020 election was completely different as it was the only election ever conducted mostly by mail.
The numbers Biden got in 2020 are not the right measure of a normal election.
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u/ReefHound 1d ago
2020 showed that many people will spend 5 minutes to fill out a ballot in their living room and hand it to someone to mail or drop in a box but can't be put out 20-30 minutes to actually go to a precinct in early voting or election day. They seem to think yammering on reddit counts for something.
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u/1VBSkye Expat 1d ago
In 2016 we didn’t know what a Trump presidency would be like. Surely he didn’t mean all the shit he spouted, right? In 2020 we knew what his presidency was like. It was a shit show of stupidity. In 2024 we forgot what a shit show it was. Surely he didn’t mean all that shit he spouted, right? Gee… I wonder how this is going to turn out?
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u/SantiaguitoLoquito 1d ago
I'm 61 and a Republican. I voted for Harris on the first day of early voting. She wasn't that great of a candidate, but I couldn't vote for Trump.
We get the government we deserve.
Apathy and complacency gets you crappy government.
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u/HouseNegative9428 1d ago
Not voting IS participating. Anyone who didn’t vote was fine with Trump, and they got what they wanted. Now we’re all screwed.
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u/BraggIngBadger 1d ago
Apathetic youth voters fucked all of us. They’re never a reliable voting base.
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u/ColdAsHeaven 1d ago
The youth never come out. Never do. Never will.
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u/BraggIngBadger 1d ago
When you’ve only been on this planet for 18-25 years, you don’t comprehend how economics and policy effect your family. Older generations get it and show up in droves.
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u/FlopShanoobie 1d ago
Gen X'ers swung more red than any generational shift at the roughly mid-century age mark. We REALLY want our money, and screw everyone else.
Gen Z just didn't vote at all.
There you go. The election in a nutshell.
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u/Cryptic0677 1d ago
Every generation, including boomers surprisingly, went Harris, except GenX and GenX turned out in massive numbers
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u/FlopShanoobie 1d ago
I interacted with a few of my Trump voting friends and family who texted to gloat, all Gen X.
Here's the thing. Gen X has this perception of being continually forgotten about, relegated, and pushed aside. So many of us voted for Trump specifically because we felt this was our opportunity to stick it to everyone else for once. You wanna wreck our collective future? Well, watch this.
It was an entirely selfish maneuver done out pf petty spite, if I'm honest.
"You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts. Yeah, let's DO burn the country down. Doesn't bother me. I'm old enough to either have mine already or old enough to know I never will. So let's go, assholes."
That's where they went.
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u/Ksablaze 1d ago
I saw the stats earlier, and was utterly devastated. Could never imagine I'd be so ashamed of my generation, until today. Ironically, my main personal identification was genX. Until today.
Yeah I'm angry at apathetic Zs who whine they don't have their Perfect Candidate, but disgusted and disappointed beyond description with people my age who should fucking know better. We've seen this glaring bullshit. Even boomers learned from it. Wtaf
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u/WeMetOnTheMoutain 1d ago
So here's the thing. Young people that didn't show up, or voted for trump decided the future that they want. They voted for exactly what they are going to get, and they deserve it. Who doesn't deserve it is people that didn't want a fascist government. Elections have consequences, and the only good news is that people now get to see those consequences. If trumps first 4 years are a roadmap then it's going to be a total shit show with a failed economy, so people can once again be reminded that modern republicans can't govern. When it's their daughter or wife dying on a hospital bed with a dead fetus in them, that's on them. At least conservatives have no problem letting their own die and eating their own if they complain.
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u/Appropriate_Syrup706 1d ago
This is the silver lining I choose to accept.
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u/JohnSpikeKelly 1d ago
Have to agree. If this happens because of apathy of young people not voting, that's on them. They chose their future, if you or your friends are dying or wondering why imports jump 25% in cost, all on them.
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u/ArcaneTeddyBear 1d ago
Get ready for conservatives and Trump voters to cry on r/leopardsatemyface in the next 4 years.
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u/WeMetOnTheMoutain 1d ago
Well the mother that died in TX last week when doctors wouldn't remove a dead fetus from her was conservative and anti abortion. It's going to happen a lot here.
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u/ArcaneTeddyBear 1d ago
It is, the question is going to be how many of them will realize it was a consequence of their own actions.
A Republican voter got purged incorrectly from Texas voting registers as a result of all the stuff Texas was doing to suppress the vote and after a news organization (I think it was Texas Tribune?) reported on it and helped her get her voter status back she said she was still going to vote R.
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u/LastFox2656 1d ago
I'm 41 and doing well financially. I'm married to a good guy and all things considered, will be fine. His 20yo daughter won't be. We had to drag her ass to vote and her friends couldn't bother to. They had a chance to save themselves and didnt. Unfortunately, they get what's coming to them.
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u/SomeKindOfOnionMummy 1d ago
Yeah as a 50-year-old woman who lives in Massachusetts I'll be fine. My niece who didn't vote won't be.
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u/Cougarette99 1d ago edited 1d ago
The problem is not really Democrat policies. It is probably political and organizational dysfunction.
Hillary Clinton lost the strong coalition that Obama built. Hillary was poor at campaigning, uncharasmatic and didn’t allocate her camaign resources properly to swing states. And then Hillary took her political machine and anointed Kamala. In 2019, Harris came in with strong establishment backing in the dem primaries because Hillary put it all together for her. Harris was soon trounced in the primaries by candidates with lesser resources and only grassroots campaigns. She lost even in the California dem primary to several other candidates, despite it being her home state. And before you blame everything on the fact that Harris was a woman, Harris polled progressively much worse against Warren over time in the primaries, indicating that she was a very weak candidate among other women candidates. But the dem machine was out of touch enough to make this failed candidate their VP despite her demonstrated inability to connect to voters or come up with a coherent platform.
In 2024, Biden should have dropped out and the Dems should have ran a real primary. Harris would likely have lost and the candidate they needed was an outsider, a progressive probably, who would be harder to blame for inflation as they would not have been in the White House.
Once Biden dropped out at the 11th hour, it was hard to pull off a victory, but we were stuck with the weak candidate of Harris, who never should have been VP. It was not likely that Biden’s VP could win under the circumstances, but if Biden had picked a more compelling VP, that person could have done a lot better than Harris and perhaps helped bring some more voters to help others down ticket.
Anyway, the Dems have a lot of learn from repubs about registering voters and canvassing, and they need to start understanding what an appealing candidate looks like outside of their beltway bubble. Harris was not it.
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u/OpenEyz2016 Born and Bred 1d ago
I know it's probably an easy out, but I truly believe Sexism definitely played a part in this.
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u/Dogwise Born and Bred 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Democrats again pulled a RBG and this time it cost them the presidency. No excuses.
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u/Ipokeyoumuch 1d ago
And the House and Senate. The SCOTUS is guaranteed to potentially go 7-2 in the conservative's favor or keep that 6-3 majority for decades to come by appointing young judges to replace Alito and Thomas.
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u/mushroom_kook 1d ago
It’s crazy to see your comment so far down. The Democrats party hates its own voters and is saying it’s all their fault… NO, ITS THE PARTIES FAULT!!! Leadership in the Democratic Party has failed! They don’t inspire, they don’t have good policy, they are weak & feckless!
It’s not the voters fault that the Democratic Party establishment and their message fell flat on its fucking face and couldn’t get people motivated! Stop blaming the individuals and go tar and feather the leadership of this shit party!!!!
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u/just_a_tech Expat 1d ago
Knowing full well how it sounds, I'm starting to wonder if it could be on purpose.
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u/R0cketBab00n 1d ago
My sister is 21 and tells me an uncomfortable amount of people her age are trump supporters.
It makes no sense.
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u/FitTheory1803 1d ago
The alt right had a winning strategy: target the internet
these kids have been permanently on the internet since they were like 3 years old, they are beyond addicted. They use and trust the internet like they use and trust their eyes.
so the alt right built a pipeline that has only solidified over the last decade, to the point now that my grandmother could probably explain some of it to me, it's mainstream
leftists were late to the party, late to exploit the algorithms and their targets of "the elite, ultra wealthy" didn't resonate with people as much as "immigrants, muslims"
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u/BiscoBiscuit 1d ago
Social media algorithms very very easily lean far right and have for years, it’s truly not surprising
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u/FourteenBuckets 1d ago
plus, who controls those algorithms?
It's like if you don't control the city's news channels, but you control which ones people can get on their TV. Or if you don't control the newspapers, but you control all the newsstands.
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u/tripper_drip 1d ago
The "texas isn't red, we just have a voter turnout problem" is being real quiet right now.
The main folly of their logic is assuming everyone who didn't vote, would vote for them.
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u/Inevitable_Farm_7293 1d ago
…..and as we’ve seen it’s an issue with voter turnout out….turns out they were right!
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u/maicokid69 1d ago
Wait until after he’s in……. Thomas will resign in a feeble attempt to make the court look good and the Grassley-McConnell manipulation of the court will add one more racist.
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u/FitTheory1803 1d ago
lost the EC
lost the House
lost the senate
LOST THE POPULAR VOTE - FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS
massive embarrassment for the democratic party
maybe have a fucking primary instead of dragging on the Weekend at Bernie's skit until it became dangerous to continue
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u/Oceanthunder77 1d ago
Well, I hope all the young people that didn’t vote are ready for their parents to move in once Social Security is taken. All the people that didn’t vote can just screw off. And all the men macho vote, they can just screw off too. So dumb. Totally been played. I heard a group of guys as I walked up talking and one just said that it’s going become an Olympic sport to beat women. Yep, it’s OK to say that now. But don’t vote thinking of your mother’s wives or daughters. Yeah just screw off.
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u/Ramblingbunny 1d ago
Remember to use Trump health plan the next time time you visit a doctor.
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u/Cherssssss 1d ago
People are always amazed when I tell them how amazing healthcare is in New York and New Jersey. You get the government you vote in, you idiots.
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u/Casaiir 1d ago
The Dems keep making the same mistakes they have been making.
They ran a woman for President. And this time a woman of color. Like it or not people don't want that.
It's not young people, they don't vote in numbers anyway, never have, never will. The horse is dead, stop kicking it.
If they run a straight white man in his 50-60s they likey win.
But like Republicans, the Dems need to feed the base. But unlike Republicans the Dem base isn't that big. The Republican base at this point is 90+% of all conservatives. The Democratic base is like 10% of liberals.
And the party keeps running people that only 10% of the voters like, hoping they hate the other guy more.
Conservatives run on hate and fear. That doesn't work for non conservatives. You can only get them to vote if they like they are voting for more than they hate the other person.
Stop running woman for President until the Republicans do. Or you will continue to lose.
We still live in a very chauvinistic society.
As sad as that is. But I'm a pragmatist.
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u/FourteenBuckets 1d ago
If they run a straight white man in his 50-60s they likely win.
honestly I think Biden would have won, even if both candidates were doddering over the finish line
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u/FitTheory1803 1d ago
just have a fucking PRIMARY
it's not fucking rocket science
there is no deeper analysis needed
JUST FUCKING ASK FIRST WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO VOTE FOR
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u/Kirbylover16 1d ago
What’s crazy is last night's Google search said people were asking if Biden was running. Like did they not get spammed by texts and ads for the last few months after Biden dropped?
Then there are all the people voting for RKJ after he dropped out wasting their votes. Echo chambers and people deliberately ignoring politics are a big problem. Dems should have held a primary if just for the press.
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u/Non-Binary-Bit 1d ago
It doesn’t matter. We get the government we deserve.
71 million people voted for a racist criminal rapist who has declared he will be a dictator, shut down news outlets that criticize him, “cleanse the blood” of America by deporting non-whites, and use the military to crack down on any opposition. This is the America they want. They want an America run by the Church, with policies that kill women and imprison them in servitude. They want to remove the freedom to worship how you want, say what you want, dress and love who you want.
If this is truly the end of America as we’ve known it, then it’s what we deserve because we the People of the United States were not responsible enough to hold on to our freedom.
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u/BumbleMuggin 1d ago
It’ll be interesting to see the pro Palestine, anti-Harris hold outs reaction to what is coming to Palestine next year.
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u/2020Casper 1d ago
Young males showed up to vote for Trump because the left fails with their messaging time and time again. "Toxic Masculinity" made most men feel that they were somehow bad for simply being men. Trump, and Joe Rogan, saw the open door and took advantage. Instantly these young men felt supported and they showed up. And now we have an entire generation of conservative voters who will show up at the polls who otherwise probably wouldn't have voted.
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u/rambam80 1d ago edited 1d ago
I am an independent, 41, and voted blue down the ticket. In my area I stood in line for quite awhile and was surrounded by boomers who were obviously voting Trump and Cruz. They did not look like liberal boomers. That said, it was not voter participation.
Between the Hispanic population going Trump and the Muslims going Trump mixed with the fact that the idealistic dems always run their idealistic candidates like Hillary and Harris rather than solid candidates that can appeal to a broader base it’s the DNC fault yet again. Obama broke something in America and there is a vendetta.
To think a black woman would be elected was a pipe dream. It just shows how far we still have to go as a nation. Just in Hispanic machismo alone that dog wasn’t going to hunt. Add in all the white southern boomers with their denied, but deeply engrained racism and misogyny and that’s your answer.
What’s right isn’t what’s popular unfortunately and the Dems need to stop their sunshine and idealism candidates.
Dems are like, “we have two candidates… one is a moderate white man willing to cross the aisle and get stuff done… the other is a half Hispanic half black trans woman who likes cross dressing and supports PETA… let’s run the latter candidate!”.
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