Why do people choose not to vote?

Question

I really don't understand why people choose not to vote. I'm not saying that they forgot, but when people literally refuse to vote or just don't want to.

I don't understand how someone can say "I could care less".

Do they not realize that by voting for a presidential candidate they could be changing their future? I mean for instance look at our gas crisis, one simple vote could change that drastically.

Or how can they hear the hundreds of stories of people who are working 5 jobs, have 3 kids, on the verge of foreclosure, have no healthcare, etc. And still say "I could care less."

Is it because they are just not involved enough in the political world? Do they just not know what each candidate could do for America?

People who choose not to vote I would like to hear your sides to the story.

Answer 1

I'm not in US, but I never vote because I'm not interested in politics - I just don't seem to care :S

Answer 2

because I have 3 children under the age of 5. Do you know how much of a pain in the *** it is to go and stand in a crowded area, wait in line and expect 3 young children to stand there and not be cranky and tired. Sorry, but I dont think my one vote is worth the hassle I would go through just to do it. Votes dont count anyway... we dont elect anyone. The electoral college does.

Answer 3

Let me tell you.

There may not be a candidate that the voter likes. Why force yourself to choose between two things you consider unfavorable?

Lets focus now on the other things you mentioned about the importance of certain issues to certain people.

The gas crisis, for example. I do not care about the gas crisis, and let me tell you why. I think this 'gas crisis' is the best thing that ever happened to our country. We Americans have been using and using with no thought about the consequences to our action. Hopefully the price of gas will strike a hard blow to Americans' wallets and teach them to not be so greedy, wasteful, and consumer addicts. It's a lesson long over due, and since no candidate is arguing to not interfere with gas prices directly, neither is compelling to me.

As far as the hundred of people working 5 jobs on the verge of foreclosure, without healthcare... NO, I do NOT care about their problems. Somewhere down the road, those people most likely made a bad decision, whether it was having an extra kid when their current salary was already stretched thin, wasteful spending, buying a blinged out car when they should have invested the money, or simply not being proactive about advancing their lifestyle. This is America, not communist Russia. It is not my job to care for the needs of others, nor support them financially.

The 'Politcal World'? I don't mean to sound cynical, but the politcal world is a bunch of old people, lobbysts, lawyers, and backassward groups like the ACLU arguing about everything and accomplishing nothing.  It's two senator having a quarrel over abortion.  Politicans spew bullcrap, and hardly ever follow through on their plans. I think we are better off doing things on our own than putting our lives, trust and fate in the hands of the government.

Answer 4

My reason...  My vote doesnt count.  Twice since I have been old enough to care about politics, has the person who won the popular vote lost the actual election.  The Bush v Gore issue...  and again with Hillary and Obama in the primary this year.

The electorial college and candidate system of voting sucks, and basically makes people's votes not count.  And I voted in both of those.

But, the reasons I here on the street are petty...  takes too long, have to work all day, ect ect

Answer 5

I will not vote in the upcoming presidential election because neither candidate comes close to supporting our basic rights to individual liberty and self-ownership.   Most people who choose not to vote do so because none of the candidates represent them.   I will not vote for a candidate who wants to limit the capacity of young people to experience the upward mobility that older generations have had by increasing taxation to fuel socialist programs like Section 8 housing subsidies and a subsidized medical industry that do (or would do) nothing but route taxpayer money into the pockets of landlords, medical supply companies, and drug companies.  I also  refuse to vote for a candidate who supports the initiation and expansion of foreign wars that do nothing to enhance our security.

I don't think it is my business if my neighbor wants to smoke crack cocaine in the privacy of his home, but apparently most Americans do think it is their business.   I don't think it is the government's job to take care of the financial well-being, retirement, or health of individuals. Free markets have demonstrated the greatest degree of adaptability to the needs of individuals.  I should not have to pay for the poor planning and ignorance of others, and I don't expect anybody else to reimburse me for my losses or pay me for my failures.  Emergency care, drugs, surgery, and dental services are far more accessible in the USA than in the nations with socialist medical systems.  Americans are the most heavily medicated people in the world.  

No vote can reduce the cost of gasoline drastically.  Pick up a calculator and look up a few figures about US consumption, growth of global fuel consumption, and compare that to the size of probable reserves in ANWR and off US shores.  The supplies are a drop in the bucket.  Look at a graph of US oil production starting in 1900.  Look up Hubbert's Peak.  Oil is a finite resource, and while there are plenty of fossil fuel sources in the world, the easy to exploit sources (shallow deposits of light, sweet crude oil) are being rapidly consumed.  There are very real physical limitations to the rate of oil extraction and the amount that is actually recoverable at a low cost.

As for the the record number of foreclosures, those people simply spent too much on a bad investment.  The government isn't bailing out stock portfolios that have decreased in value, they certainly shouldn't bail out banks or individuals that made poor decisions.  Life is inherently risky.  The decrease in housing prices makes it possible for young people to afford home ownership.  Housing costs were getting prohibitively high for many people and still are in some areas.  There are major social and economic benefits to low housing costs.  

I do not believe that government action can solve most social problems.  Many people want to try to legislate away all problems and think that the people in Washington are much more capable than they actually are.  Problems are best solved through communities and families, not inefficient bureaucracies.

Again: I will not vote in the upcoming presidential election because neither candidate comes close to supporting our basic rights to individual liberty, self-ownership and the fruits of our labor.

For a summary of what I and many others who will not vote believe, I recommend watching this animation:

http://www.isil.org/resources/introducti...

Answer 6

our votes dont count.  the electoral college chooses who our president's gonna be.

Answer 7

If voting could realy change things, overnight congress would enact a

a law against it. When i was young and naieve like you are now 18,

to be exact, a law of the jungle was permantly enacted against a man

who was in office, he posed a serious threat to some, the threat was

to simply make the world a better place for all to live, the man was  

JFK, and the law they passed was for him to be asassinated, i vowed

from then on, never, to vote again, and i'll keep that vow right to my

grave . . .

Your right, i couldn't care less anymore . . .

Answer 8

because there's never anyone to vote for!!!!!!!!!  i do pay attention to the details of the candidates & can lean on one or the other (ie, Hillary Clinton for me this year), but in the end, it's not enough for me to justify voting for them.  & like Der Mann said, the president isn't the end all be all of every issue in our lives!

i'm either not voting at all this year (again), or just voting libertarian...

Answer 9

Well for some people, it's against their religion to vote or be involved in anything political (ex. jehova's witnesses)

Others are intimidated by politics ... they don't understand it and they figure that it's too complicated so they won't make an effort.

Others just don't care like you said ... sadly, these are the majority and all they care about is the immediate gratification stemming from their decisions ... kinda like smokers ... smoking is stupid but people still do it because they won't feel the backlash until much later in life.  

Answer 10

It's nice to know some ppl believe in politics. Truth is unless it's some extreme far right party most MPs and politicians seem to say the same thing. They''ll go through a contrversial phase before they become famous and when they're finally up there, they tone down their radical views a little to make themselves look popular...it's all the same to us, and if you look at the world no matter how many protests the public will carry down their streets do you honestly think the government is listening? That's why we don't give a toss because really neither do the parties that govern us, and at the end of the day it does take two to make a country work well-the government and it's public but you know who ALWAYS gets the blame as soon as the public start to whinge about something they started themselves even.

Answer 11

What you have to understand is that a lot of people don’t research the politics behind voting to put the right president in office. Most of them assume (based on the environments that they currently live in) that what ever president is elected into office, he or she will not care about them as people or their community. They feel as though the government, and the democratic system has let them down and no one cares about assisting the communities in need. And many feel (and I’ve heard this one before) that the elections are rigged, and that a republican candidate will win no matter who they vote for. So to them, it’s pointless to vote because nothing will change. But it’s going to take people like yourself and many others who do care about our country, the politics and policies behind it to cast their votes for the right candidate. The one who care’s more about the people, and not about the big time oil companies and corporations.  

For the longest I used to be one of those people. Even while in the military I didn’t vote. Especially after many of my friends did cast their votes and the votes never even left the d@m ship! So my thought process was “why even bother?” But after many of my Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine brothers and sisters have passed on, I soon came to realize that I should care, and I should bother, because if I don’t, many more will die based on an idea or belief. I realized that its no excuse for anyone in America to have to work two jobs making minimum (less that $7) wage to make ends meet, there is no excuse for people to have to pay almost $5 dollars a gallon at the gas pumps, There’s no excuse for the students we encourage to go to school to occur over 30 to 60k in credit card bills and debt, and there is no excuses for any of our veterans to lay in a soiled hospital beds for hours/days before funding comes through for proper care. So now, I do bother, and I will be voting for Obama come November.

Answer 12

because they dont feel that anyone standing is a worthy candidate. and so they obstain.

they feel their vote makes little impact, and lets face it, its true, the outcome is going to be the same wether they vote or not. i know you might say that if everyone who didnt vote voted, then the outcome might be different, but actually it is probably about the same percentage of people who would otherwise vote for each party who obstain. and so this would not affect the outcome at all if they decided to vote

Answer 13

Alot of them think that it won't matter.

Answer 14

I think many of them just don't care in general, they feel their vote doesn't count and nothing will change but if they believe that they should look at election 2000.

And also they don't understand that the president they choose directly affects the Supreme Court.

I've never voted before because I'm only 21 and the last election I was only 17 so I couldn't vote. But this year I understand the importance of voting especially with the current state we are in as a country.