The majority of the population has departed from reality.
According to Ballotpedia, ~63.9% of the eligible US voting population (older than 18) turned out to vote, or ~155 mn people. This means ~36.1% didn’t turn out, or ~88 mn people out of the ~243 mn total population. In 2020, the turnout rate was ~66.6% or ~158 mn, meaning ~33.4% or ~79 mn didn’t vote out of the ~238 mn total population.
According again to Ballotpedia, ~77 mn voted R in 2024 (~49.8% of the voting population or ~31.8% of the total population), ~75 mn voted D (~48.3% of the voting population or ~30.8% of the total population), and ~3 mn voted 3rd party (~1.9% of the voting population or 1.2% of the total population).
In 2020, ~81 mn voted D (~51.3% of the voting population or ~34.2% of the total population), ~74 mn voted R (~46.9% of the voting population or ~31.2% of the total population), and ~3 mn voted 3rd party (1.8% of the voting population or ~1.2% of the total population).
You say majority, but clearly less than a third of adults in 2024 voted R.
I don’t think we can say why the other ~88 million didn’t vote. Sure, maybe some of them share a reality that diverges from the rest of the world. But we can speculate some other reasons too: maybe they were too apathetic because their party ran on issues not necessarily aligned to the views of their own, maybe they had to go to work to earn a paycheck, maybe they were turned away from the ballot box, maybe Joe Biden’s approval ratings tanked and upon dropping out of the race, many people on election day still thought he was running, maybe Kamala didn’t diverge enough away from Biden (or Republicans) to make a meaningful difference in voters’ eyes, and maybe some of them didn’t think women should be in office, with gender inequality still a prescient issue.
I liked Tim Walz’s analogy in response to the Democrats’ performance in 2024:
If a teacher teaches a subject, quizzes their class afterwards, and finds that less 100% of the class pass, the fault for that performance doesn’t lie with the kids. The fault lies with the teacher. The teacher needs to teach concepts in multiple ways using different pedagogical methods to activate as many kids as possible.
Politicians are the same for me. If people aren’t voting for you, a politician needs to speak to (and sometimes educate) the public in more ways than just one - and do so effectively.
Democrats dropped the ball this year. It still seems like they’re dropping the ball in Congress. We’ll see what the party does. I’d recommend they look to the progressive caucus with Bernie Sanders and AOC for the answer.
According to Ballotpedia, ~63.9% of the eligible US voting population (older than 18) turned out to vote, or ~155 mn people. This means ~36.1% didn’t turn out, or ~88 mn people out of the ~243 mn total population. In 2020, the turnout rate was ~66.6% or ~158 mn, meaning ~33.4% or ~79 mn didn’t vote out of the ~238 mn total population.
According again to Ballotpedia, ~77 mn voted R in 2024 (~49.8% of the voting population or ~31.8% of the total population), ~75 mn voted D (~48.3% of the voting population or ~30.8% of the total population), and ~3 mn voted 3rd party (~1.9% of the voting population or 1.2% of the total population).
In 2020, ~81 mn voted D (~51.3% of the voting population or ~34.2% of the total population), ~74 mn voted R (~46.9% of the voting population or ~31.2% of the total population), and ~3 mn voted 3rd party (1.8% of the voting population or ~1.2% of the total population).
You say majority, but clearly less than a third of adults in 2024 voted R.
I don’t think we can say why the other ~88 million didn’t vote. Sure, maybe some of them share a reality that diverges from the rest of the world. But we can speculate some other reasons too: maybe they were too apathetic because their party ran on issues not necessarily aligned to the views of their own, maybe they had to go to work to earn a paycheck, maybe they were turned away from the ballot box, maybe Joe Biden’s approval ratings tanked and upon dropping out of the race, many people on election day still thought he was running, maybe Kamala didn’t diverge enough away from Biden (or Republicans) to make a meaningful difference in voters’ eyes, and maybe some of them didn’t think women should be in office, with gender inequality still a prescient issue.
I liked Tim Walz’s analogy in response to the Democrats’ performance in 2024:
If a teacher teaches a subject, quizzes their class afterwards, and finds that less 100% of the class pass, the fault for that performance doesn’t lie with the kids. The fault lies with the teacher. The teacher needs to teach concepts in multiple ways using different pedagogical methods to activate as many kids as possible.
Politicians are the same for me. If people aren’t voting for you, a politician needs to speak to (and sometimes educate) the public in more ways than just one - and do so effectively.
Democrats dropped the ball this year. It still seems like they’re dropping the ball in Congress. We’ll see what the party does. I’d recommend they look to the progressive caucus with Bernie Sanders and AOC for the answer.