# The US midterm elections **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 16, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793 "2014-11-16T19:25:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/1 "2014-11-16T19:25:10Z")
In the recent elections, 2 out of 3 eligible voters did not vote. Why do you think this is so? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/2 "2014-11-16T20:58:57Z")
I’m a political junkie, but I’m well aware most people aren’t. Turnout in midterm elections is usually low. As much as it may mean to me, I’m well aware most people are aware that the sun comes up in the morning regardless if the Republican or the Democrat wins for Governor. It’s not like a presidential race when you’re likely to see the face of the President every day on TV for 4 years. Also, there weren’t a lot of tight races in the most populous states. The Illinois governor race was one exception. There were some tight Sentate races, but most of them were in low population states like Alaska, Kentucky and Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/3 "2014-11-16T22:37:58Z")
As well as the fact the midterm turnouts are generally low, people are _tired_. When you have a full-power political hype about whatever 24/7, when speculation for 2016 candidates begins the day Obama gets reelected, it gets hard to care that much after a while. Plus, people are disillusioned. Sure, they identify as Democrats or Republicans, but in reality there’s quite a lot of choosing the lesser evil going on. I think this is especially true for a large fraction of Democrats - they don’t like the Democrats, but they hate the Republicans. With that mindset, it’s hard to get excited about stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/4 "2014-11-17T02:37:18Z")
Consider the expected value of any one person’s vote. The better question is why does anyone vote? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/5 "2014-11-17T02:52:02Z")
Simple. Mid-term elections don’t have great turnout. In 2008, 130 million Americans voted. In the 2010 mid-term elections, the number was [82.5 million](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/nov/03/us-midterm-elections-2010-turnout-says-a-lot). Even in the boring 2004 election, almost 109 million people voted. In the 2006 mid-term elections, voter turnout was about [78.2 million](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_elections,_2006). You can go back and compare earlier elections, but you’ll find the result is pretty much always the same. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/6 "2014-11-17T02:53:29Z")
Because if I don’t vote, someone else’s vote hasn’t been canceled out. Why should I let some other asshole make that decision without any effort on my part to deny him that power? If we could “pair up” and not vote – since yours would cancel mine, so why bother? – I could see some sense in not voting. But since I have no way to know that the other guy won’t cheat and go vote anyway, I certainly intend to. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/7 "2014-11-17T03:38:17Z")
Voting gives you the right to bitch, complain about the political arena. If you don’t vote, ya got no say. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/8 "2014-11-17T04:05:18Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Consider the expected value of any one person’s vote. The better question is why does anyone vote? Nail on the head. Rationally, there is no reason to vote, unless you really care about some very local race that has a non-vanishingly-small chance of being decided by one vote. Thus, almost by definition, the act of voting is irrational. Most people feel that viscerally even if they didn’t think it through, and only vote if there is some irrational, emotional benefit attached to it - “warm fuzzies”. It’s much hard to work up emotional “warm fuzzies” in midterm elections. QED. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/9 "2014-11-17T04:18:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Consider the expected value of any one person’s vote. The better question is why does anyone vote? In midterm elections, where voter turnout is historically low, the expected value of your vote is at a premium. So, rational actors should be turning out in droves if they base the decision to vote on the value of any individual vote placed. Obviously, they base the decision to vote on other things. Most likely, they just don’t care much about anything other than the biggest ticket election: who becomes president. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/10 "2014-11-17T04:29:03Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Consider the expected value of any one person’s vote. The better question is why does anyone vote? In a couple of local elections, oddly enough both involving alcohol. the outcome was decided by 3 votes in one election and 5 in the other. Both formerly “dry” areas went “wet”, and over time, the value (and from another perspective, the cost) of those deciding votes may turn out to be substantial. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/11 "2014-11-17T05:10:25Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > In midterm elections, where voter turnout is historically low, the expected value of your vote is at a premium. But still infinitesimal. > [@Terr](#): > > Nail on the head. Rationally, there is no reason to vote, unless you really care about some very local race that has a non-vanishingly-small chance of being decided by one vote. Thus, almost by definition, the act of voting is irrational. Most people feel that viscerally even if they didn’t think it through, and only vote if there is some irrational, emotional benefit attached to it - “warm fuzzies”. It’s much hard to work up emotional “warm fuzzies” in midterm elections. QED. Nicely put. Voting is like the lottery – sensible people should approach it as entertainment, and it’s more fun when the jackpot is bigger. > [@Oakminster](#): > > In a couple of local elections, oddly enough both involving alcohol. the outcome was decided by 3 votes in one election and 5 in the other. Both formerly “dry” areas went “wet”, and over time, the value (and from another perspective, the cost) of those deciding votes may turn out to be substantial. Voting is like anything else; things \*matter \*more when there’s alcohol involved. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/12 "2014-11-17T19:22:07Z")
Moving to Elections. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/13 "2014-11-17T22:45:05Z")
Other than the tiny incremental value of a single vote, I think there’s some information overload there. For example, we see higher turnout in Presidential years, when there’s tons of information about the Presidential candidates. We know those guys pretty well by the end of the campaign. But what about local election? How much do I know about county judge seat #2? Assistant fire commissioner? What does a Country Treasurer even do? Even reading a simple pro/con blurb on every issue and candidate is an investment of several hours and that’s without time to fact-check the claims made by both sides. I can see that being overwhelming: you want to do a good job, but you don’t have time. So you have to either settle for not voting (which is bad) or voting with some snap judgments (better, but not exactly good). But I think Ferguson Missouri is the perfect example of why you have to just do it anyway. With 2/3 of the community black, a 100% voter turnout would make it impossible for the black community to claim they’re unrepresented. With 100% turnout and a 2/3 majority, the elections would actually be one set of black issues against another. The white people would just have to pick one of the black guys and deal with it. With 30% voter turnout… well, you get what you vote for. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/14 "2014-11-18T01:11:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Terr** : > > Nail on the head. Rationally, there is no reason to vote, unless you really care about some very local race that has a non-vanishingly-small chance of being decided by one vote. And yet, elections are decided nonetheless. If we take as an assumption that individual votes are meaningless, then we arrive at the conclusion that aggregates of votes, and thus the entire election, are also meaningless. But clearly this is not true. Thus, our assumption, that individual votes are meaningless, is shown to be false. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/15 "2014-11-18T01:15:04Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Nail on the head. Rationally, there is no reason to vote, unless you really care about some very local race that has a non-vanishingly-small chance of being decided by one vote. Yes, one vote makes virtually no difference, but if 1 million voters abstain from voting as a result of this belief, it makes a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/16 "2014-11-18T01:17:27Z")
> [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](#): > > In the recent elections, 2 out of 3 eligible voters did not vote. Why do you think this is so? 1. Americans in general are a lazy electorate. Even in presidential elections, turnout rarely exceeds 65%. 2. Midterms aren’t as exciting as presidential elections. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/17 "2014-11-18T02:49:13Z")
I’m compelled to quote IOZ. > [@](#): > > A coworker asked me who I voted for today, and I said that I didn’t vote. She asked me why not, her disapproval being frankly palpable, and I told her I didn’t vote for the same reason I don’t always come to complete stops at stop signs: the act reeks of undue deference to constituted authority. The presumptive obligation of each citizen to vote is one of those goofy tenets of the democratic civic religion. Like most religious precepts and practices, we continue to valorize it even as we abandon it. Well over half of us now abstain. Even Catholicism is in better shape. I actually will haul myself into a booth if there’s a seat on the city council at stake, because, fuck, man, the potholes. > > … > > The fact that we farm out our selection process to The People is not inherently wise, nor good, nor fair. It ensures only that we can blame our neighbors for the bastards that lead us ever toward ruin, rather than blaming the poor issue of some half-impotent monarch, or the College of Cardinals, or the alignment of stars. > [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Voting gives you the right to bitch, complain about the political arena. > > If you don’t vote, ya got no say. Implying that voting gives you a say in much of anything or isn’t a total shamockery. But even ignoring that, doesn’t the blame then land on you? If I didn’t vote, hey, I didn’t do nothin’. I was just minding my own business. You’re the one putting the guys in everyone’s complaining about. Reminds me of the notion you can’t criticize X industry unless you’ve actually participated in said industry. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/18 "2014-11-18T03:11:23Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yes, one vote makes virtually no difference, but if 1 million voters abstain from voting as a result of this belief, it makes a huge difference. I don’t control a million votes. Or a 100 votes. Just one. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/19 "2014-11-18T03:23:53Z")
I would love it if everyone who didn’t vote instead decided to go out and vote third party for every race. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793/20 "2014-11-18T03:36:44Z")
We would then have about fifty “third” parties. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-midterm-elections/704793.md?page=2)