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[AstroNut325]

This morning I came across the new episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and one segment in particular was downright infuriating.

The key issue: Liberals still can't be bothered to come out and vote.

YouTube link to Video: https://youtu.be/Jm6CnP8CsCw

As discussed in the video, voter turn out for the recent elections in March still didn't see any changes to voter turnout. Why is this the case? We're hearing a lot about marches against Trump and angry town halls, but that hasn't affected voting patterns whatsoever.

I understand that the examples given in the video aren't there best, but the overall message still stands and it highlights the issue Liberals in the US have faced for the last few decades. This does not bode well for the midterms in 2018.

Why are liberals still not voting? Are they just oblivious to local/state elections? They don't like there democratic/liberal candidate? Voting restrictions? Just get lazy on election day? They don't care??? What will it take to get people into the voting booth?

Even in my family, my wife and my mom didn't bother to go vote in the recent local election. Their reason... They were too tired after a long day and couldn't bother to go vote. Yes I was raging that evening as a bloody Republican won the election.

 

[ZOONAMI]

Sigh.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Goddammit.

 

[zaccheus]

Because voting is a pain in the ass in this country. Also, humans don't react to things until they're right in front of them. They're not going to bother voting until they start starving. Reason rust belt turns out so many voters is that that part of the country is really hurting. Liberal cities are doing well, so theres a lot of apathy.

 

[ratcliffja]

Old people have time on their hands and are more typically right-leaning. As a result, we're typically going to be only as liberal as the average retired person.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Hate motivates mobs. And democracy is by definition driven by mob mentality.

 

[CountAntonius]

Easier to retweet something or "like" something on FB than it is to actually go vote.

 

[madstarr12]

Extreme Liberals only care about satisfying their emotions. If they really cared about policy, they would have voted last year. -_-

 

[pvpness]

Bad candidates. I know a lot of my friends who are considered liberal aren't voting because they feel they're only being offered neoliberal candidates. They're strangely optimistic about progressive candidates at the mid-terms tho.

 

[big ander]

The Los Angeles elections were so fucking disappointing. They turned out the right way—a terrible measure that would've blocked construction of affordable housing when the city's most desperate for it (which only existed because a millionaire fake activist wanted to halt construction of a building that would obstruct the view from his office window) was voted down. But it being voted down wasn't a sure thing! Truly do not know what the solution should be.

 

[Skellig Gra]

How many of these lazy liberals are even registered to vote?

 

[Ac30]

Bad candidates. I know a lot of my friends who are considered liberal aren't voting because they feel they're only being offered neoliberal candidates. They're strangely optimistic about progressive candidates at the mid-terms tho.

True progressives they are!

 

[cdyhybrid]

Purity tests and/or not actually caring beyond wanting to have the appearance of a liberal.

 

[Forerunner]

 

[nintendoman58]

Get ready to get fucked in 2018 and 2020 again

rednecks and old people will always come out to vote

As disheartening as this is, this doesn't outright confirm any of this will happen.

The message to stop Trump and Republicans also needs to be a message to vote no matter what.

 

[sugarhigh4242]

Theory: They're not really liberals. They're progressives and social democrats with no political representation in the US.

Democrats offer nothing to these people and get no votes.

Editor's note: GAF needs to learn what liberalism actually is.

 

[Autoignition]

Cynicism is a real problem in America for the entire side of the spectrum that's left of center.

"Eh, nothing's really going to change anyway."

"My vote doesn't matter."

"The whole system's just fucked."

There's also the problem of really, really restrictive voting laws in some areas of the country and a lack of access to polling places. So when you add that on top of the cynicism that already exists, people just kind of go, "Why bother?"

 

[aeolist]

the democratic party is an utter failure when it comes to driving out their base

 

[LegendofJoe]

Theory: They're not really liberals. They're progressives and social democrats with no political representation in the US.

Democrats offer nothing to these people and get no votes.

Editor's note: GAF needs to learn what liberalism actually is.

So Eric Garcetti, the Democrat, who passed a 15 dollar minimum wage in LA offers nothing to progressives?

 

[Vicetrailia]

Voting does need to modernize a bit though (although that still not the problem).

I personally will be less likely about doing things that take extra work because they don't take advantage of technology. Decrease the path of resistance!

Voting isn't one of those, but it does need to get better.

 

[Jag]

Theory: They're not really liberals. They're progressives and social democrats with no political representation in the US.

Democrats offer nothing to these people and get no votes.

Editor's note: GAF needs to learn what liberalism actually is.

I'm not a liberal, yet I'll vote against every Republican I can because I think they are destroying this country. I hated Hillary but still voted for her to stop Trump.

 

[big ander]

As disheartening as this is I don't know that it signals the same will happen in 2018. I mean these were city measures and school board members—stuff people SHOULD vote on but not voting on it doesn't say they are equally apathetic about higher profile elections. Optimistically I believe liberals will keep the momentum going and show up in 2018 for midterms.

 

[Kthulhu]

the democratic party is an utter failure when it comes to driving out their base

I'm really hoping the new chairman will push people to vote.

 

[hawk2025]

Bad candidates. I know a lot of my friends who are considered liberal aren't voting because they feel they're only being offered neoliberal candidates. They're strangely optimistic about progressive candidates at the mid-terms tho.

Lmao


Here comes the neoliberal hammer, swinging every which way!

Everyone's a nail!

 

[Deepwater]

Lots of conflation with liberal voters and democratic voters in this thread. I honestly can't even tell what yalls definition of a liberal is. Is it someone with progressive ideologies? Or somebody who just tends to align left of the aisle. Somebody who doesn't vote republican?

I'm trying to understand. There's just a lot of a strawman finger waving in here and I don't get it.

 

[tbm24]

They aren't serious about what they preach about. Especially on a social media basis. I spent too much time arguing with certain individuals I know over the election last year who presumably I expected to me on my side given the candidate they endorsed, to sit they asses home on Election Day while I got myself, my wife, and my father to the polls. The only conclusion I ever managed to get to was they don't care and don't dare question their right to now vote because they walk away at that point.

 

[jombag]

Why can't they make election day a holiday so there's no excuse?

 

[sugarhigh4242]

I'm not a liberal, yet I'll vote against every Republican I can because I think they are destroying this country. I hated Hillary but still voted for her to stop Trump.

Not unreasonable, but it's a strategy of slow decline rather than progress.

 

[starchild excalibur]

I was guilty of this earlier this month. I actively followed the presidential debates and voted early for the presidency, but I was lacking when it came to following the local elections here (I live in Pasadena, CA). Before that Tuesday I made a note to vote after I got off work, but because it wasn't as forefront in my head I totally slipped on actually doing so after work.

There's no real excuse for it. And while I knew it was important it just didn't dominate the here and now for me as much as the presidential election did or the midterms will. I'll have to be better about that the next time around.

 

[JesseEwiak]

Theory: They're not really liberals. They're progressives and social democrats with no political representation in the US.

Democrats offer nothing to these people and get no votes.

Editor's note: GAF needs to learn what liberalism actually is.

Which is why the Left will never win in the US.

The Right happily voted for Nixon even as he passed the EPA, etc. Why? Because it allowed them to slowly take over a party instead of sitting outside and getting nothing.

 

[Deepwater]

Why can't they make election day a holiday so there's no excuse?

People still work on federal holidays.

 

[Stumpokapow]

The anti-progressive ballot initiative got defeated; the progressive ballot initiative got approved; the more progressive of the two marijuana measures got approved. The mostly progressive city council and mayor got re-elected in landslides. Yeah, sounds like Liberals let us down!!! And in the city that gave Clinton literally 100% of her massive popular vote win too, if LA liberals won't vote for Puppy Catcher and Assistant Mosquito and Sewage Guy, how can we know that they'll show up to vote for the big ticket elections?!?!?!

Performatively voting in municipal elections in California is not something that will flip Ohio or West Virginia, and there is essentially no reason to believe that there's a connection between low turnout here and low engagement elsewhere in real elections. Never even mind that the people protesting and marching are the 10-12% voting in this election -- this is absolutely a case of preaching to the choir.

This is a totally unproductive look that ignores the cultural, economic, and institutional factors that drive vote patterns.

Just because someone has good politics doesn't mean they're right every time they whip you into an anxiety coma while yelling about how the world is gone to hell.

 

[aeolist]

Lots of conflation with liberal voters and democratic voters in this thread. I honestly can't even tell what yalls definition of a liberal is. Is it someone with progressive ideologies? Or somebody who just tends to align left of the aisle. Somebody who doesn't vote republican?

I'm trying to understand. There's just a lot of a strawman finger waving in here and I don't get it.

it depends on who's using the word. leftists tend to use it to describe pro-market centrists, right-wingers mean "anyone left of us", and centrists tend to look at it as a more socially progressive term.

 

[gutter_trash]

the Netherlands had an 80% turnout last night, and they said no to the Dutch version of Trump with stupid hair (Wilders)


American Liberals have no excuse

 

[excelsiorlef]

Bad candidates. I know a lot of my friends who are considered liberal aren't voting because they feel they're only being offered neoliberal candidates. They're strangely optimistic about progressive candidates at the mid-terms tho.

So they'll just sit out and take the Republicans instead... brilliant strategy.

 

[sugarhigh4242]

Which is why the Left will never win in the US.

The Right happily voted for Nixon even as he passed the EPA, etc. Why? Because it allowed them to slowly take over a party instead of sitting outside and getting nothing.

Ask yourself how the EPA was imposed on a far-right government, and you'll start to see where I'm coming from politically.

 

[tkscz]

Old people have time on their hands and are more typically right-leaning. As a result, we're typically going to be only as liberal as the average retired person.

Yeah this one is and will always be bull. Time has extended on when you can vote. You are allowed to call off work without the threat of termination on voting day, can't get to the polls? They have things for that. If you have time to protest and march, you have time to vote.

 

[kirblar]

Bad candidates. I know a lot of my friends who are considered liberal aren't voting because they feel they're only being offered neoliberal candidates. They're strangely optimistic about progressive candidates at the mid-terms tho.

This is the problem. Refusing to compromise results in non-voting. When you don't vote, you're giving half a vote to the GOP by default.

 

[cdyhybrid]

Not unreasonable, but it's a strategy of slow decline rather than progress.

One could argue that not voting to prevent fast decline in favor of slow decline is the opposite of progressive.

 

[Deepwater]

it depends on who's using the word. leftists tend to use it to describe pro-market centrists, right-wingers mean "anyone left of us", and centrists tend to look at it as a more socially progressive term.

Which is why the liberal (har har) use of the term in this thread is confusing. There's absolutely no evidence that the people who stayed home in these particular local elections even self identify as "liberal".

If the people who stayed home are liberals, then who the hell did come out to vote for Dem candidates?

 

[aeolist]

the Netherlands had an 80% turnout last night, and they said no to the Dutch version of Trump with stupid hair (Wilders)


American Liberals have no excuse

the dutch have a sane electoral system with proportional representation

 

[Rentahamster]

Extreme Liberals only care about satisfying their emotions. If they really cared about policy, they would have voted last year. -_-

Vague generalization statement that satisfies your emotions.

 

[Father_Brain]

Despite what many liberals like Bee would have you believe, left-of-center and right-of-center voters' brains don't actually work that differently; the truth is that the GOP is just vastly more competent at understanding what its voters find psychologically compelling and acting based on that.

 

[tkscz]

Vague generalization statement..

Literally both sides do this to each other. It's all I see is generalizations as if it means anything.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Not unreasonable, but it's a strategy of slow decline rather than progress.

Yes because letting everythimg tilt far right is the road to progress

 

[Zach]

I have helped multiple smart, college-educated, gainfully employed, progressive people register to vote (or update their voter registration). It's insane. Hopefully more people care without hand-holding post-Trump. But don't count on it. If someone complains about Trump, make sure they're properly registered. Offer to assist them if need be (which is ridiculous because it's so simple, but whatever).

 

[tuxfool]

Yes because letting everythimg tilt far right is the road to progress

If you believe in accelerationism...

 

[aeolist]

Which is why the liberal (har har) use of the term in this thread is confusing. There's absolutely no evidence that the people who stayed home in these particular local elections even self identify as "liberal".

If the people who stayed home are liberals, then who the hell did come out to vote for Dem candidates?

anyone who could be accurately identified as liberal probably votes pretty regularly. low turnout comes from groups that are traditional democratic voting blocs but not ones that strongly identify with the party itself, i.e. lower-income voters.

and the reason why voter participation in those groups has been on a non-stop downward slope for the past few decades is pretty simple: the democratic party is merely a lesser evil for working people when compared to republicans.

 

[Frank the Great]

The left does not understand strategic voting.

The right does.

 

[BoosterDuck]

if the left loses in 2018 then I'm moving to Canada

this country's a joke lol