# Does $20 mean squat to the candidate of my choice? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802 "2003-06-27T18:18:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/41 "2003-07-01T00:50:23Z")
So what you’re basically saying, **Surreal** , is that since one vote doesn’t matter, nobody should vote. Just because you probably won’t cast the deciding vote doesn’t mean that your vote doesn’t help whomever you vote for. What does voting cost you, anyway? A few hours a year waiting in line and driving to and from the voting area? Given the fact that you’re exercising a right that millions of people have died for, I think it’s more than worth the time spent. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/42 "2003-07-01T03:17:59Z")
Not even a few hours around here. During the last election I was in and out in under 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/43 "2003-07-01T04:04:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Surreal \* > \*\*$10 for a charity does SOMETHING. > > A vote for a losing candidate, or a vote for the winning candidate who would have won anyway, does NOTHING. \*\* You are lurching from ridiculous to absurd. Your notion that a vote for the losing candidate is somehow wasted is very simpleminded, as though the point of voting is to always back the winner. This is an appallingly cynical and uninformed view; the importance of voting is not about the result, it is about the participating in the process. Even if my candidate loses, I am empowered by the simple act of _giving a damn_. The only redeeming virtue of your philosophy is that by staying home, the rest of us are neither burdened by your candidate, nor must we respect your opinion; you have rendered your self politically irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/44 "2003-07-01T04:17:41Z")
I believe that **Surreal** is committing the well-known Fallacy of the, er, Something-or-Other. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/45 "2003-07-01T04:28:25Z")
It’s not so much a Fallacy as it is a Paradox, or maybe just one of those Makes-Your-Head-Hurt-When-You-Think-About-It things. _Any one person_’s vote doesn’t make a difference (unless the winner wins by a single vote (in which case you can bet there’ll be investigations and recounts)), since if that person hadn’t voted, the result still would be the same. But if a large enough number of individual voters all think this way and decline to vote, it _can_ make a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/46 "2003-07-01T04:30:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Interrobang!? \* > \*\*As I have been reminded by every Democratic presidential candidate website I’ve visited recently, June 30 is a crucial fundraising deadline. I’ve been urged to give anything I can to ensure that the candidate of my choice can stay in the race. > > I’m mildly tempted to donate. I’ve never donated to a political campaign before, and this is the first year I could consider doing so. But I can’t give much – $20 at most. > > Should I bother? Will a donation this small mean anything to my candidate? And does that answer change if I support Dean over Kerry, or Kucinich over Dean? \*\* Yes my friend. Do not donate the $20. It will make no difference. Buy yourself some doughnuts, or pornography. Everyone likes pornography. MWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!! _Rubs Republican hands together in evil glee_ ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/47 "2003-07-01T17:53:36Z")
Sorry, Muad’Dib. I ended up giving Howard Dean $25. I do have to admit that many of my reasons are irrational – I’ve never donated money to a political campaign before, and I’m kind of curious to see what happens. (Will I get a bunch of mail? Will I feel any more connected to the political process than I usually do? Who can tell?) I got an email from the Dean campaign this morning, opening with this: > [@](#): > > Yesterday, we raised $800,000 online in a single day, bringing us to over $7 million for the entire FEC reporting period. On the one hand, my contribution to that was insignificant. On the other hand, a bunch of us insignificant contributers combined to donate a mighty impressive sum of money in one day. Worth it? I still dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/48 "2003-07-01T18:19:41Z")
Well done, **Interrobang!?**. It is through those ‘insignificant contributers’ that things are achieved. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802/49 "2003-07-01T19:15:31Z")
According to a bit at Salon (to which I won’t link since it’s a subscription/day pass mess thing) the average size of contribution to Dean’s campaign was $67. So while it’s true that by itself your $25 may not be that consequential, as noted, in the aggregate it’s pretty amazing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-20-mean-squat-to-the-candidate-of-my-choice/184802.md?page=2)