no gaps just people suffering and politicians ignoring them
people are wanting universal healthcare, police reform, cease fire, more rights for workers including upping the minimum wage
no undecided voters only people that have been waiting for a long time for something to change and for someone to enter the stage vehemently announcing they are on the people’s side
To many years the white house was staffed with either establishment rich politicians that madebsure that nothing will fundamentaly change or just plain fascits, so I totally understand the scepticism. But this time things seems different with Harris and Waltz
Really depends on the fundamental change. I don’t think Harris is going to overthrow capitalism and institute a national UBI any time soon, but we might get some election reform to get all the dark money out of politics. Or at least some of it. More environmental stuff would be nice. Minimum wage hike is past due.
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I’ve wondered… In countries where voting is voluntary, does being ahead in the polls work unfavourably? Like, less people show up because they think it’s in the bag, while the other people show up because they know how many votes their side needs to have a chance?
Yes being ahead can definitely be a liability. Complacency is a big problem. In some ways Harris is exactly where she should be: with polling trajectories in her favor but still slightly behind where she needs to be. So she has this perfect blend of being the underdog (which people love), but also a lot of optimism that tends to he contagious.
That’s the thought I had. I guess that’s why people are always saying it’s important to go out and vote, no matter what.
Where I live, it can be a bit of the opposite problem where a person must vote, so including the many who are disinterested in politics. People often cast a vote without looking into policies and realising their own jobs or wellbeing will be affected the most.
From that standpoint, I appreciate involuntary voting more, but I realise it must have its own shortcomings.
I long wished we had mandatory voting, but for the reason you mentioned that may not be the ideal way to drive voter turnout. The good news is that recent years have seen record turnout as a percent of our voting-eligible population, but there’s still much room for improvement. Plus “forcing” people to vote is kind of contrary to our obsession with Freedom & Liberty for better or worse…
Ultimately I just wish we could inform the electorate to the point where they want to vote. I’d be content with just mandatory voter registration, which is entirely feasible. Each state has its own rules in terms of registration requirements and there are many people who just end up not being able to vote despite wanting to because they missed the registration deadline a month or two earlier. That’s unacceptable and a blatant form of voter-suppression in my view.
Plus if we put as much respect to Election Day as we did Christmas in recognizing it as a national holiday, combined with standardized mail-in-voting… That could help boost voluntary turnout as well.
In the long-run, we also need to eliminate the Electoral College and FPTP voting by instituting a ranked/approval-voting system that eliminates the spoiler effect and gives people the chance to vote for their most ideal candidate without having to always tactically vote against their biggest fear.
The Electoral College scenario seems fundamentally undemocratic to me. I get the idea, but it seems like if such an idea should continue, it would be reviewed and updated each time. Is it not that there are states that hold big population and power now, where the idea was to give underrepresented states more representation? I may have that wrong, though.
As for getting people to want to vote, my personal opinion is that’s a downfall of two-parry democracies. It’s hard to be vote when the options are “shit” and “shitter”, so I imagine in a voluntary scenario, demotivation is a player for a decent enough percent of the population.
Is it not that there are states that hold big population and power now, where the idea was to give underrepresented states more representation?
That’s what Republicans will tell you, but they know they’ve only won the popular vote for President once in over 30 years and that their entire party’s life-line is dependent on it.
What you’re referring to was the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise — which was the establishment of the 2 branches of Congress, the US Senate and US House of Representatives. Ultimately, small states were promised 2 US Senators and 1 House Representative no matter their population — which largely addresses what you point out here. Nobody really has a problem with that.
What people have a problem with are these “elector” votes applying to the election of the President. Thus Whyoming gets 3 electoral votes, which is disproportionately greater than, say, California. If you do the math, a Wyoming American citizen has 4x the voting power as a Californian Citizen, which kind of undermines the whole, “one person one vote” mantra.
The reality is that the Electoral College and its application toward electing the President was a compromise born out of slavery. Southern states had >90% of all slaves and since slaves didn’t count toward population this weakened Southern states’ capacity to influence who the President was. The Electoral College offset this disadvantage for Southern states. It is thus antiquated and a complete failure. We desperately need a constitutional amendment, which will require a massive widespread viral campaign from coast-to-coast.
You’re absolutely right about the two-party democracy diminishing enthusiasm. First-Past-The-Post 2-party system must go. Any ranked alternative system would be a massive improvement.
The Dems have ward bosses in Philly. These are older black ladies who in the end are in charge of getting out the vote. They walk their wards and make sure that every Democrat votes. They’ll be busy making cookies and kicking ass this year.
“But gaps remain”
It’s a horse race! They’re . . . racing! Look out! Oh no! It’s The Unexpected Thing! Probably. Just about to happen!! Aaaiigh! Keep clicking! For gods sake click like the wind!
While the media obviously benefits from a close race, if it motivates them to not make it seem like a sure thing then it’s worth it. Last thing we need is Democrat voters getting overconfident.
They just need time to catch up with her recent decision to become a black person.
