Well, I mean - that’s a pretty misleading figure, tbh. It’s true that around that percentage of Americans as a whole voted for him, but “Americans as a whole” includes a whole bunch of people who are not eligible to vote. Like, people under 18. Or people who have felonies and cannot exercise their voting rights. The eligible voting population in 2020 (according to the US census bureau) was 231.6 million. As Trump received 74,223,975 votes in 2020, that represents about 32% of the population. Of course, 231.6 million people didn’t vote in 2020. Only about 168.3 million were registered to vote, and only about 154.6 million actually voted. So if you look at the percentage of people who were willing to vote who preferred Donald Trump, that’s a staggering 48%. What’s depressing is that if you tally up the people who didn’t vote (either because they weren’t registered to vote, or they were registered and decided not to), you get about 77 million voters - more people than actually voted for Trump, or about 33% of the total eligible voting population.
So what’s probably most accurate is to say that America is roughly divided into thirds: those who think Donald Trump is swell, those who don’t, and those who couldn’t give a shit either way.
glimse@lemmy.world 8 months ago
23% of the country voted for him in 2020, not 40%
elbucho@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Well, I mean - that’s a pretty misleading figure, tbh. It’s true that around that percentage of Americans as a whole voted for him, but “Americans as a whole” includes a whole bunch of people who are not eligible to vote. Like, people under 18. Or people who have felonies and cannot exercise their voting rights. The eligible voting population in 2020 (according to the US census bureau) was 231.6 million. As Trump received 74,223,975 votes in 2020, that represents about 32% of the population. Of course, 231.6 million people didn’t vote in 2020. Only about 168.3 million were registered to vote, and only about 154.6 million actually voted. So if you look at the percentage of people who were willing to vote who preferred Donald Trump, that’s a staggering 48%. What’s depressing is that if you tally up the people who didn’t vote (either because they weren’t registered to vote, or they were registered and decided not to), you get about 77 million voters - more people than actually voted for Trump, or about 33% of the total eligible voting population.
So what’s probably most accurate is to say that America is roughly divided into thirds: those who think Donald Trump is swell, those who don’t, and those who couldn’t give a shit either way.
glimse@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s not a misleading figure as the original commenter said 40% of the population, not 40% of eligible voters
elbucho@lemmy.world 8 months ago
“Population” could also mean “Eligible voting population”, not just “total population”. Both contexts work.