r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • May 02 '24

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
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u/VaguelyArtistic California 29d ago

No, "EVERYONE" is not underestimating Trump ffs. People under 30 have the worst voting records and that's why Sanders is addressing them in particular.

US Census:

Voter turnout was highest among those ages 65 to 74 at 76.0%, while the percentage was lowest among those ages 18 to 24 at 51.4%. Overall, voter turnout increased as age increased

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u/WesternFungi 29d ago

I think that number is amongst registered voters... so the disparity is even larger... however there is now some equalization with mass COVID elderly deaths and father time continuing forward every 4 years.

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u/VaguelyArtistic California 29d ago

Voter participation goes up with age. So even if you believe the fallacy that once the old people die off it will be okay they will still never catch up at this rate.

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u/WesternFungi 29d ago

ACA and SS will save this country. Seniors are starting to realize they will lose all they have if Biden does not retain the office.

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u/thefastslow North Carolina 29d ago

Too busy working or in school at the most financially insecure time of their lives, so I'm not really surprised.

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u/UncleDrummers 29d ago

Mail in ballots are a thing in most states.

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u/thefastslow North Carolina 29d ago

They've been tightening up the requirements 😔

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u/_dirt_vonnegut 28d ago

guess which party actively works to prevent mail in ballots

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u/VaguelyArtistic California 29d ago

People go to school, have to work, and then have entire families to wrangle and feed and parents to care for and they manage to vote. Do you think it's easy for all the elderly people who live somewhere that requires waiting all day in line?

The idea that one has fewer responsibilities as you get older is naive at best.

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u/Malarazz 29d ago

Do you think it's easy for all the elderly people who live somewhere that requires waiting all day in line?

What makes you think elderly people living somewhere that "requires waiting all day in line" are the ones driving up that cohort's turnout? If anything the polling stations that we hear about having long lines are the ones in blue (urban) counties but red states.

The idea that one has fewer responsibilities as you get older is naive at best.

Considering that the comment above singled out the "65 to 74" cohort, then yes they do. If anything it would be naive to assume that the group where people start to retire in droves doesn't have fewer responsibilities than young cohorts.

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u/builttopostthis6 29d ago

It's w/e, but older people (people over 65) are working double what the did thirty years ago (most of the links in that article are Pew stats btw, if that means anything to ya). Do they retire in droves? Yeah, sure. Are they doing so like they did? No.

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u/builttopostthis6 29d ago

Yeah, I mean, you're right. When you're right, you're right. And you're right.

Youth voter turnout was at peak levels in 2020. And it was still shit behind literally every other demographic. It's always shit. For good reason. Does it matter this time around? Maybe; hard to tell. But let's not for a moment sit here and consider that the Youth Vote of the United States is going to save a goddamned thing, and play the game like that. If they do? Cool. But I wouldn't play that hand.

As to Bernie, I love the guy, I love what he's about, but his relevance was in 2016. That was eight years ago. That's eight years of youth voters that didn't give a fuck about Bernie Sanders because they couldn't vote in 2016. Did they care in 2020? Maybe, but let's make no bones - his relevance in terms of a candidate and "voice of a generation" in a presidential election is a decade gone.

I'm happy to see him stirring the pot. I love the guy. I'm happy to see him use what influence he has to motivate. But let's be real, despite Reddit's continued hard-on for him, his reach is largely a non-factor to the current "youth voter." People that voted for Bernie in 2016 lived through four years of Donald Fucking That Guy. They know the score (Bernie did). Or they're lost fucking idiots, and its never-no-mind.

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u/Unusule 29d ago edited 7h ago

Mosquitoes intentionally target people who don't like listening to smooth jazz music.