58 percent of eligible US voters boycott presidential election
US citizens fill their ballots in a temporary polling station at the Ocean County courthouse in Toms River, New Jersey, November 4, 2012.
Tue Nov 6, 2012 11:15AM GMT
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At least 58 percent of eligible voters in the United States have decided not to participate in the US presidential election, arguing that their votes will have no effect on their future, a report says.
The figure is higher than the combination of voters who will cast their ballots either for the incumbent President Barack Obama, or his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. According to current forecasts, both presidential hopefuls are expected to be voted for by less than 25 percent of eligible voters.
Various studies, however, suggest that, many of the non-participant Americans are committed to political participation in their society, anyway.
“I won’t participate in the elections, because I think the US governmental system is fundamentally illegitimate. I believe the US electoral system only paves the way for the legitimization of a government that is directed from above and under an oligarchic system,” Keith Preston of “Attack The System” group said.
“Attack The System” is a group of protesters to the US political system whose members believe that the existing US system is basically illegitimate. The group does not believe in philosophy of government and while opposing totalitarianism, advocates distribution of political power among popular and private institutions.
Preston said the members of the group sought the establishment of a system that could reflect the will of the majority, rather than fulfilling the interests of the small group that is now in control of everything.
Voting in the election inspires the feeling of participation, but in reality limits your choice, Jeremy Weiland, another “Attack The System” member, explained.
Weiland, who has stuck an “Occupy Wall Street Movement” sticker on his laptop, argued that political participation does not only mean going to the polling stations and casting ballots.
“I believe the US imperialist system is very large and passive, and is unable to balance itself, he continued. It will collapse from inside just as all empires throughout the history finally collapsed,” the activist opined.
In fact, the supporters of the US Democratic and Republican parties only comprise 30 percent of the voters; hence, if we consider the non-participants as a statistical sample, its number will exceed the number of the two parties’ supporters.
Yet, some Americans say they belong to a ‘third party’ who supports neither incumbent President Barack Obama, nor his rival, Mitt Romney.
A Baltimore citizen, and a ‘third party’ supporter, said he would not go to the polls because Baltimore residents traditionally vote for the Democrat candidate and thus his voice will be drowned out. (In order to show his protest against the US two-party system.)
“I am sure my favorite candidate won’t win and my vote will consequently favor the winner of the race between the Democrats and the Republicans, which won’t reveal my protest against the two-party system,” he added.
A young American woman said she might choose a third party candidate.
Meanwhile, many analysts believe the boycott of the elections by anarchist groups and the 40-percent non-participants will play into the hands of the Republicans, who stand further than Democrats from the ideals of this minority of the American population, at least at the level of campaign promises.
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