Posted on 01/16/2005 4:45:13 AM PST by alessandrofiaschi
WASHINGTON (AFP) - More than 122 million Americans, or 60.7 percent of registered voters, cast ballots in the November 2 presidential election, which saw US President George W. Bush win a second four-year term, a new study showed.
The showing marked the highest turnout for a US presidential election since 1968.
According to the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, Bush secured some 62 million votes, or 50.8 percent of the ballots -- an increase of 11.5 million over his showing in 2000.
His challenger, Democrat John Kerry, garnered more than 59 million votes (48.3 percent), or eight million more votes than Democrat Al Gore received in 2000.
Independent candidate Ralph Nader obtained just over 440,000 votes (0.4 percent), down sharply from the more than 2.8 million he received in 2000.
Still, while 6.4 percent more voters turned out for the 2004 election than the 2000 polls, according to CSAE, a whopping 78 million eligible voters opted not to participate.
The group said that Bush won with support from around 30.8 percent of eligible voters.
my heroes have always been cowboys...
Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan are two of the best U.S. presidents in history.
Yeah, including 100,000 more voters in Milwaukie than actually existed, and 3000 more voters in Seattle than actually existed.
Republicans have won in both of the elections with the highest voter turnouts since 1968. That should refute those who say that a high turnout favors Democrats.
Oh well, the RATS called out enough dead, convicts and illegals to make up for that number.
America is a conservative nation, not liberal, so high turnouts favor Republicans.
... animals, plants, terrorists, spacemen... voted for Kerry!
So, what's up with this nonsense stat? What did your boy Clintooon get in 1992? Was it about 20% of the eligible voters?
Thanks for the ping!
At the same time, we have have close to 40% non-participation in our country. And that doesn't even factor in the non-participation of non-registered voters.
The article is wrong. The turnout this year was 60.7 percent of eligible (not just registered) voters, aka VAP (Voting Age Population). As a percentage of registered voters, the turnout was close to 80%. AFP has butchered the AP release.
Perhaps you're right.
So? Clinton won with the votes of about 16% of the people who were or could be eligible to vote.
...and I helped.
The Sunnis are about to learn that the bedrock of the democratic process is the exercise of free will.
A truly free people will not be forced to vote or to stay home on election day by their Government.
Those who strive to be a free people will sometimes have to stand up and fight those who would deny them the right to vote. An outside power will not always be there to do their fighting for them.
After the coming election, the Sunnis will learn that the Shiites and the Kurds have exercised their free will and have defied those who would deny them the right to vote. The Shiites and the Kurds will therefore reap the benefits of political power achieved through the democratic process.
The Sunnis, on the other hand, as a result of cowardice or as a result of a conscious intimidation and boycott will stay away from the polls. They, and their Left-wing allies, share the political goal of ensuring that the Bush Administrations goal of a democratic Iraq fails and will claim that the elections are "illegitimate".
That is a cynical game that the U.S. and Iraq must refuse to play.
The Sunnis were given the chance at democracy and if, through thuggery or cowardice, they turn their back on it, it is the result of the Sunni community's free will.
The Sunnis will be politically powerless until the next election cycle and they will have nobody else but themselves to blame.
If they desire their share of political power after the next election cycle, it will be their responsibility to eliminate the Sunnis within their own community who would deny them their right to vote.
Freedom is not free.
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