Stop Saying Half of America Chose Trump Because It’s Just Not True

By

Kat King

Sigh. I see it’s time yet again to revisit fractions, as I continue to see headlines here in Medium and elsewhere which incorrectly claim half of the country chose Donald Trump. That’s just flat out wrong, and here’s why:

There are 331,000,00-ish people in the United States.

159,000,000 of them voted in the election somehow, whether by mail-in, absentee or in-person.

Basic arithmetic means…?

Less than half of all eligible voters actually participated in the democratic process.

Now, pare that down to less than half of THEM (47%) chose Trump, and now it is less than 25% of the nation’s total population. Less than a quarter of Americans chose Trump (again).

Look at the 2016 election:

Our electorate is not as sweeping as either side would have you believe. The loudest, most vocal participants will continue to claim they speak for all Americans, but they do not. They speak for only a small percentage of our people. No, they scream and shout and rally, and kill, shun and humiliate other Americans who don’t agree with them.

So, why doesn’t this make me feel any better?

Because this gaping wound isn’t going away with this election. 70 million people still chose an legally impeached President, and while more people cast votes in this election than any other in the past century, the true shame lies in the silence of those who did not.

300 million Americans were called to defend their beliefs in the most contentious cultural war ever, and yet half of them remained silent.

Why?

They still don’t believe they matter. They watch the constant in-fighting, whether it be politesse, (“fuck you” with a smile), or open hostility and they choose to not let politics “dictate their lives”. Or, they don’t agree with either party and feel forced to choose, but they refuse to compromise their standards and check out, leaving extremist a red carpet to pull up and take root. Like those nasty Mucinex ad viruses.

Democracy is not a guarantee.

We are a constitutional democratic federal republic. We are not one or the other. We are both. We need to work together to restore faith in the electoral process. The breakdown didn’t begin with us, but it continues to erode our way of life. We have to fight to preserve it.

All we have in this cultural warfare in a sea of so many faces is our voice, our vote.

But I won’t be manipulated into believing that half the country supports Donald fucking Trump. I truly believe most Americans are smarter than that, but as I say, they have checked out. I believe the true silent majority ain’t happy with Biden and Harris either. Many people talk more about wanting to abolish the two-party system and the electoral college (or at least redefine it) altogether.

Millennials and Gen Z must decide where we go next while the Boomers fight tooth-and-nail to hold onto the last vestiges of their empire. Gen Xers need to stop being the “Invisible middle child” conveniently checking out altogether from everything that doesn’t directly affect them. Don’t wait til they are at your door with guns. By then it’s much, much, much too late.