On the one-year anniversary of the 2016 presidential election it is worth looking back at the history of American presidential democracy. One disheartening feature of our democracy is the fact that, compared to many other democratic nations, voter turnout in America is very low. The graph on the left shows the number of votes the Republican, Democratic and combined third party candidates received as a percentage of the total voting age population. Since 1916, only 57% of eligible voters on average cast a ballot for president. As a result, the president is decided by only 30% of eligible voters on average, far less than a majority of the population. If “didn’t vote” was treated as a candidate, Candidate Nobody, she would have won every single election of past 100 years with the sole exception of losing to Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. American citizens who care about the future of their country need to get informed, motivated and voting. And not just every four years for president. Every election matters.
Data on the Rocks 