The real winner of the 2018 midterm elections was the same winner of the 2016 elections, the same winner of the 2014 midterms, the same winner of the 2012 elections, and the same as the winner of the 2010 midterms....
The real winner was: Nobody.
As Fortune Magazine reports:
"Voter turnout for the 2018 midterm elections reached new highs: in all, an estimated 113 million voters cast their ballots."
But still, only 49.2% of eligible voters actually voted according to the United States Election Project. By the time all the ballots were counted, there were actually 115,897,500 people who voted in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, but 50.8% of eligible voters– 119,666,500 people– didn't vote.
That's more than the total number of people who voted for anybody at all, nearly twice the number of people who voted for Democrats, and more than twice the number who voted for Republicans. If we counted all of these eligible voters who didn't vote for anyone at all as votes for no government, it would appear that the electorate prefers no government at all, to the one we have and the people who want to run it.
But it might be more accurate to interpret this non-voting majority's non-participation in the United States elections as an indication that they don't believe it matters much who wins the election– That there isn't really a substantial difference between most of the candidates in each election, or how they would govern if elected– unlike the candidates themselves, and their parties, who want their voters to believe that this is:
"The Most Important Election of Our Lifetimeeeessssss!"
In an election day article on The Humble Libertarian using that catchphrase as a snarky title, I agree wholeheartedly with the election day stay-at-homers: "The two parties are actually so similar that they have to spend billions each year to differentiate themselves from the competition, but the differences aren’t real– they’re branded corporate marketing."
And as I noted to begin with, this isn't the first year that essentially twice as many eligible voters said there's no difference between the two main parties in the United States as voters who picked Democrats or voters who picked Republicans.
In 2014's midterms just a little over a third of eligible voters exercised their right to weigh in on United States elections.
Either eligible voters are pretty much happy with the United States government regardless of which party's politicians are running it, or they're pretty much unhappy with it regardless of which party's politicians are governing it. So the question is: which is it?
As a libertarian, I would hope that they're unhappy with it.
But are they?
Congress' abysmally low approval ratings, which have averaged well below 40% since the 1970s, years before the first millennial was even born yet, are a pretty reliable indication that a solid majority of Americans are perpetually unhappy with the federal government. Since 2008 Congress' approval ratings have averaged below 20%, dipping as low as the single digits.
In 2017 a video of fmr California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went viral because of claims he made in it that Congress is less popular than cockroaches and hemorrhoids.
He said:
"Here are some of the things that are more popular than Congress: hemorrhoids, Nickelback, traffic jams, cockroaches, root canals, colonoscopies, herpes. Even herpes, they couldn’t beat herpes in the polls."
Two months later PolitiFact rated his statement Mostly True, noting that Schwarzenegger...
"...pointed to results from surveys conducted by Public Policy Polling in January 2013 and October 2013. The polling company is known for conducting some tongue-in-cheek surveys... it asked hundreds of registered voters if they have a higher opinion of either Congress or a series of unpleasant or disliked things...
Hemorrhoids
-- 53 percent of voters said they had a higher opinion of hemorrhoids than Congress, which was favored by only 31 percent in this matchup, according to the October 2013 survey
Nickelback
-- 39 percent of voters said they had a higher opinion of the rock band Nickelback than Congress, which was favored by only 32 percent
Traffic jams
-- 56 percent of voters said they had a higher opinion of traffic jams, than Congress, which was favored by only 34 percent
Root canals
-- 56 percent of voters said they had a higher opinion of this dental procedure than Congress, which was favored by only 32 percent
Colonoscopies
-- 58 percent of voters said they had a higher opinion of this invasive procedure than Congress, which was favored by only 31 percent
Herpes
The PPP surveys actually didn’t ask about herpes. But they did ask about gonorrhea. And Congress was still less popular than that venereal disease."
So don't let anyone tell you that Democrats or Republicans won any election ever again. Remember that the real winner of the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, if we count all the eligible voters, including the ones that didn't even think it was worth it to vote– is "No Confidence" in the United States government.
Or maybe...
Dennis Hof, the brothel owner who was elected in a landslide to the Nevada legislature–– two weeks after his death.
This article was reposted to Steemit in its entirety, with love, from The Humble Libertarian.
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thanks for confirmation of the fact that majority of people are not concerned about elections. I was just discussing this matter with another person elsewhere - perhaps will share link to this your post in there too! :)