Episode 131: ADM for Oct. 26, 2022 - Why People Don't Vote Week: Nonvoters Cite Lack of Faith in Electoral System as Reason Not to Show Up

American Democracy Minute

Why People Don't Vote Week: Nonvoters Cite Lack of Faith in Electoral System as Reason Not to Show Up
Knight Foundation - The Hundred Million Project study
CNN/SSIS Poll - Americans’ confidence in elections has faded since January 6
Brennan Center - Poll: Majority of Voters Confident Midterms Will Be Conducted Fairly, with Reliable Results
Associated Press - Many remain critical of state of US democracy: AP-NORC poll
FiveThirtyEight.com - Why Many Americans Don't Vote
NPR - Poll: Despite Record Turnout, 80 Million Americans Didn't Vote. Here's Why
CNBC - ‘I don’t plan to vote ever again’: The psychology of why so many people don’t vote, even in 2020
American Progress - Increasing Voter Participation in America

Groups Taking Action:
Movement Voter Project, Voto Latino, Black Voters Matter, Vote.org

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Today, we have another in our series of why Americans don’t vote. In the 2016 election, over 41%, 100 million people, didn’t vote at all, despite a contentious and competitive election. One of the reasons cited in a poll after the 2016 election was a lack of faith in the electoral system.

The Knight Foundation’s 2020 study found that 27% of nonvoters said the system was rigged or corrupt. Two years later, in July 2022, a CNN poll of both nonvoters and voters showed that just 42% of Americans had some confidence that the results of US elections reflect the will of the people. In the wake of the January 6th hearings, polls by Monmouth University and the Brennan Center in September and October 2022 show a only slight majority of Americans are confident in our electoral system. The Midterm turnout will show whether Big Lie disinformation succeeds in keeping more voters home.

Of particular concern are trends among younger citizens who are eligible to vote, ages 18-24. The Knight Foundation found that while they consume media, they are less informed on news and politics than than even habitual nonvoters. When asked whether more people voting is a good thing, only 56% of all younger citizens agreed, vs. 74% of all voters. Alarmingly, 20% of younger eligible voters say voting doesn’t make any difference.

It remains to be seen whether issues like the attack on reproductive rights and the erosion of voting rights will be enough to activate these younger voters.

Links to articles and the surveys can be found at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl