LogFAQs > #979893194

KI_Simpson posted...

And how many of those people you wrote off as shortsighted and stupid would have voted if they weren't being suppressed either directly or indirectly (not having time off work/out of their day to vote)? You are saying exactly what Republicans want you to in regards to people who don't vote. Obviously some of them are just stupid, but you erased everyone who isn't.

So you're saying the inverse, that literally everybody who doesn't vote is because of suppression?

Nah man, that's just not reality. I've met far too many non-voters who could vote and simply don't because they either have no interest in politics or have a negative view of being politically engaged.

As a Texan I agree that living in a state that engages in voter suppression will over time weaken voter participation because people give up, however also as a Texan who consistently votes blue and only wins local elections with my vote, I understand that the only way to eventually flip a state is from voters like me never giving up and over time enough of us exist to make real change. Trump only won TX in 2016 by around 2m votes and I remember calculating back in the day that there was about 8m eligible voter-aged people in TX who could have voted and didn't. Was some of them from voter suppression? Yes, Paxton boasted in 2020 about how Trump only won the state because of him interfering with Houston's elections, however realistically it's still feasible for 2m votes to go Dem out of those 8m if people who have given up would reengage.

I've also seen far too many Dem-likely voters who vote 1-2 election cycles who give up because the system isn't radically changed as a result of their voting and thus permanently give up on the system and usually talk shit about voting in general, ultimately depressing voter turnout for anybody who values what they have to say.

Also, there is a ton of evidence that the vast majority of the U.S. populace is heavily ignorant when it comes to politics. Don't think you can blame that on voter suppression. I've literally heard real people blame Joe Biden for the loss of Roe v Wade just because he was POTUS at the time.