53 percent. That is the portion of Americans who showed up to the polls in 2012 to express their opinion of Governor Mitt Romney and incumbent President Barack Obama. By the midterm election in 2014 that percentage was closer to 30 percent. As a nation, the US trails nearly every single industrial democracy in electoral participation.
You have, in all likelihood, already heard this about the United States. Every presidential election year it seems that any news site with a “US Politics” page reposts the same dusty old story about how few Americans will go to the polls in November. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that story next to one about the incredibly small number of far-left or far-right voters who choose candidates in the party primaries.
While these “low-expectation” stories are certain to reappear between now and November, they may be one of the few things we can count on about 2016. This cycle has already seen a radically different kind of election. Donald Trump dominates the news with headlines about berating a judge, failing to donate to veterans and proposing questionable policies like religious tests for immigration or an impossible border wall. Meanwhile as Hillary Clinton ends her long primary battle, she is consistently critiqued for security missteps, is under investigation by the FBI, and struggles to find a message that deeply connects with a jaded and cynical American public. Reading news stories like these, it is easy to understand why many experts expect voter participation to be incredibly low in 2016.
No matter your stance on the Republican and Democratic candidates, your general apathy towards the topic or intense fascination with your phone when politics come up, you should realize 2016 is different. This election is bound to be historic regardless of the outcome. If Hillary wins, America will have elected its first female president and granted the Democratic party a third term in the White House for the first time since the 1960’s. If Trump wins, the United States will have chosen the first president since Herbert Hoover to have no public or military service experience and the first to be elected with a nearly 70 percent disapproval rating. While 2016 is on track to discourage more Americans from voting than ever before, it is also on track to be an election of historic proportions.
On November 8, voters will face a choice between the two of the most disliked candidates in American history. Many Americans will see this election as a choice between the better of two evils and wish for any other candidate to support. (Well tough luck, you probably missed the opportunity to support better candidates in the primaries). In spite of the fact that not voting seems like the easiest option to avoid this difficult choice, this election demands the thoughtful involvement of more Americans than ever before as it prepares to shape the next century in America. As the most basic principles of our nation are suddenly up for debate, a few votes in 2016 has the potential to shape the policies, goals and international perceptions of the United States. So no matter what your opinions are, or if you voted last time, no American can afford to sit out this election and let others decide the future of the United States of America.
