<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0LZO4K_0vZMhWzQ00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0LZO4K_0vZMhWzQ00" width="764" height="341" > Turn on cable news or scroll through social media, and you will see a divided America split between red Republicans backing former President Donald Trump and blue Democrats supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race. But the reality is America isn’t split in half. It is split in thirds between Trump and his Republicans, Harris and her Democrats — and the more than one-third of Americans who don’t vote. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> In the 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden, 33.4% of voting-eligible Americans did not cast ballots, and 38.6% of the adult population did not vote, according to tallies from the U.S. Census Bureau and analyses from various universities. Turnout is even lower in midterm and other non-presidential elections, with 46% of voters turning out for the 2022 midterms, according to the University of Florida’s U.S. Elections Project. Who are nonvoters? So who are the Americans who don’t vote, and why don’t they play in the partisan political arena? “Traditionally, on average, people who don’t vote in elections are in lower income brackets. They have lower education levels. They are younger,” said Eric Raile, a political science professor and data researcher at Montana State University. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> While some Americans don’t vote because of logistical barriers to casting ballots, the increasing prevalence of mail-in voting and drop boxes helps those with disabilities or workers with jobs that make it harder to get to polling places. But a healthy chunk of nonvoters simply don’t like partisan politics and don’t feel represented by national and statewide politicians. They don’t see either major political party invested in or impacting their everyday lives — with sentiments that the government and politicians work at the behest of “wealthy interests," Raile said. “They feel like the system is not working for them,” Raile said. 'Actively disaffected' Jeffrey Lazarus, a political science professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, said many nonvoters have dim views toward politics and don’t see differences in Democrats or Republicans impacting their lives. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> “There is also a large contingent of people who are actively disaffected. They don’t feel like their vote matters,” Lazarus said. While the two parties emphasize their contrasts on gun and abortion rights, immigration, climate change, diversity and inclusion, as well as their disparate views of Trump, both partisan camps embrace a market economy (i.e. capitalism), U.S. defense spending that approaches $1 trillion annually and campaign money from wealthy donors. Lazarus said while nonvoters tend to be younger and poorer, they don’t necessarily fit into one partisan box with non-uniform views on economic and social issues. “They agree with the Republican Party on some things, and they agree with Democrats on other things,” Lazarus said. Lazarus does see Trump (and now Democratic energy for Harris) helping drive voter turnout in November. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> “Trump, in a lot of ways, drives engagement with Democrats because they see him as a unique threat to American democracy. There’s a lot of Republicans in the base who are uniquely excited about Trump,” said Lazarus. Focus on the base Ryan Waite, a veteran campaign consultant and vice president of public affairs with northern California-based consulting firm Think Big, said the political parties and most campaigns are focused on ginning up and turning out their voter bases and don’t tend to engage with low-propensity voters. “They put resources where it is going to make the most difference. Typically, you are looking at people who have previously voted, who are kind of in that soft middle,” said Waite, who has mostly worked on Republican campaigns. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Waite said while social media can help engage more voters and could help engage nonvoters, especially young ones, the medium presents challenges. “You are competing with everything else. The slice of time you get in front of them is very very small,” he said of the social media content streams. Negative campaigning, coarse social discourse and misinformation on key issues have also magnified on social media leaving voters and nonvoters distrustful of content and disparate and sometimes ideological information sources. “It’s hard for average voters to figure out what’s going on,” said Waite. In an Aug. 26 letter to the House Judiciary Committee, META Platforms chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Biden-Harris administration "repeatedly pressured" Facebook and Instagram to censor dissenting content (including humor and satire) related to COVID-19. The White House defended those actions as helping protect public health from misinformation. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Recent surveys show low levels of trust in politics, the media and government, as well as plenty of economic stress stemming from the post-pandemic inflation wave. A June survey by financial firm Credit Karma and research firm Qualtrics found 68% of Americans don’t believe official economic data touting job gains and easing inflation after post-pandemic spikes in prices. Another recent poll by Gallup and the Walton Foundation shows Gen Zers (ages 12 to 27) have little trust in the media, government and politics. But they showed strong turnout in 2020 and are expected to also show up in November, said Craig Snyder, campaign director for Haley Voters for Harris (a group that hopes to get GOP supporters of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to eschew Trump). New energy? Snyder said Harris’ campaign should energize younger voters more than the matchup between Trump and President Joe Biden. “They weren’t excited about a race between two 80-year-old men,” said Snyder, noting that Democratic enthusiasm for Harris will also generate GOP energy for Trump. Harris was installed at the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden, 81, was pressured to quit the race by donors and party power players over concerns about his age. Snyder said voting groups such as suburban women, Black and Hispanic men, along with voters on both sides of Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas could tip the race in battlegrounds such as Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Trump could also shift his voters, many of whom are disaffected by COVID policies (including vaccines), in key states. Snyder also sees another contingent of nonvoters beyond the disaffected and those with logistical barriers. “There’s a third group,” he said. “They just don’t connect politics to their lives.” GOVT efforts Political organizations on both sides do have get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts across the country, including some aimed at first-time and nonvoters. Conservative groups — such as Christians United for Israel — hope to turn out evangelicals for Trump and Republicans. That includes working with churches across the country on support for Israel and voter mobilization. Democrats look to college campuses, as well as Native Americans, Blacks and Hispanics in key races. In Montana, Nick Marroletti, coordinated campaign director for the state Democratic Party, said grassroots turnout efforts have included knocking on 100,000 doors and making 97,000 phone calls supporting U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who faces a tough challenge from Republican Tim Sheehy. 'Lack of faith' Mara Ostfeld, a research scientist at the University of Michigan, analyzed voting sentiments in Detroit and found Latino voters, in particular, have lower turnout propensities. Ostfeld agrees that nonvoters, especially lower-income ones, don’t see the outcome of elections impacting their daily lives. “There is a disconnect,” Ostfeld said. But she also said that doesn’t mean nonvoters are not engaged or connected to their communities in other ways and don’t follow politics. “It’s not like they are disinterested or disengaged,” Ostfeld said. “There is just a lack of faith in the political system in particular.” </div></body>

Mountain View, CA

Turn on cable news or scroll through social media, and you will see a divided America split between red Republicans backing former President Donald Trump and blue Democrats supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race.
                But the reality is America isn’t split in half.
                It is split in thirds between Trump and his Republicans, Harris and her Democrats — and the more than one-third of Americans who don’t...