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Americans Should Blame Voters, Or Lack Thereof, For Trump And Clinton

By Amanda Gardner
Published on: 20:27 PST, Jun 9, 2016

With Donald Trump as the undisputed Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Americans find themselves in an all too familiar situation — yet again, voters must cast their ballots for the lesser of two evils.

When this occurs, which is basically every four years, Americans place the blame on the political establishment, the media, corporate interests, or another outside influence for limiting their choices for president to candidates they do not support, trust, or want. However, a look at the voters themselves places the blame elsewhere.

According to information on American voters from the U.S. Census Bureau, researched and published by Statistic Brain Research Institute in August 2015, only 146.3 million of 218.9 million eligible Americans are registered voters. Based on 2016 presidential primary data from the United States Election Project, which includes voter statistics for most of the states’ primaries and caucuses, only 26.3 percent of eligible voters cast ballots during the primaries.

Without starting a discussion about the failure of Americans to participate in the political process, it is important to point out that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the nominees because of ballots cast by voters who equal only slightly more than 25 percent of Americans age 18 and older.

The small percentage of eligible voters who actually voted in the primaries leads to another question: What are the opinions of the 75 percent of Americans who have chosen not to vote for any of the candidates offered by the two main parties? Unfortunately, without canvassing all Americans, answering that question is all but impossible. The only certainty is that the voters who did not participate in the primaries were either uninterested, unimpressed with any of the candidates on the ballot, or simply unwilling.

Using the number of registered voters and the number of eligible voters to determine a percentage, it can be assumed that 66 percent of Americans are interested enough to actually become registered voters. This means 41 percent of these somewhat-interested voters failed to vote in the primaries. Operating on the assumption that 41 percent of voters were unwilling to vote because they did not feel any of the candidates deserved their support, the first of many problems with both Americans and the U.S. presidential election process appears.

Back on February 1, when the first Americans cast their votes during the Iowa caucus, the Republicans fielded 12 candidates, while the Democrats fielded three. Even with so many options, only 15.7 percent of eligible voters turned out to cast ballots. In New Hampshire, the number of Republican candidates decreased to nine, while the Democrats were down to two, and 52.4 percent of eligible voters participated. Since the New Hampshire primary, very few primaries have drawn anywhere near that percentage of voters.

Statistics from the primaries make it terribly clear that the poor choice of candidates for the presidential election is simply not the fault of the parties, the media, or corporations; it is the fault of the Americans themselves.

Now that primaries are nearly over, many Americans are lamenting the loss of their chance, as voters, to change America. However, the opportunity for change has not passed — it remains until all voters have cast their ballots on November 8 — but it requires Americans to participate and do a bit of research. In addition to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, both labeled “weak, unpopular candidates” by The Atlantic in a recent article on the 2016 presidential election, several third-party candidates are options for voters.

The first option for voters is Jill Stein. Stein is expected to secure her nomination at the Green Party’s convention in August. Stein ran in 2012, receiving nearly half a million votes from Americans nationwide.

The second is Libertarian Gary Johnson. Johnson was a Republican nominee in 2012 before switching to the Libertarian Party after repeated losses in the primaries. In the last president election, he was the first choice of more than one million voters, and The Atlantic suggests he may fare even better this year with so many Republicans refusing to vote for Trump.

The third, which is only a possibility, is Bernie Sanders. Sanders’ supporters are begging for him to continue his presidential bid as an independent if he loses the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July. Only time will tell whether he opts to run or throws his support behind Clinton.

Now is the time for Americans to show the establishment, the media and the corporations who has the power, and the only way to do that is by motivating voters. Voters do not have only two choices — this year can be the year for voters to break the hold the two main parties have had on Americans for generations.

[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]

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