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Guns Guns Guns
Guest
In a typical presidential election, a bare majority of Americans bother to vote.
Since World War II, turnout has usually hovered between 50 and 60 percent.
In this respect, 2008 was unusual - summoning 63 percent of us to the polls.
The Party of Non-Voters is mostly lower-income.
Its members are overwhelmingly poor whites, African Americans, Hispanics and young people.
In 2008, many of them deserted the Party of Non-Voters and went to the polls.
For example, a whopping 65 percent of eligible African Americans voted.
So did 49 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 24 - an age group that's normally far less likely to vote.
Hispanics also went to the voting booths in unusually large numbers.
And most of them voted for Obama.
So the real question in 2012 is whose potential supporters are more motivated to vote, and whether Obama can rely on anything close to the turnout he got in 2008.
But this time around there isn't much enthusiasm for either candidate.
The Republican base has never particularly liked Romney, and many Democrats have been disappointed in Obama.
Since World War II, turnout has usually hovered between 50 and 60 percent.
In this respect, 2008 was unusual - summoning 63 percent of us to the polls.
The Party of Non-Voters is mostly lower-income.
Its members are overwhelmingly poor whites, African Americans, Hispanics and young people.
In 2008, many of them deserted the Party of Non-Voters and went to the polls.
For example, a whopping 65 percent of eligible African Americans voted.
So did 49 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 24 - an age group that's normally far less likely to vote.
Hispanics also went to the voting booths in unusually large numbers.
And most of them voted for Obama.
So the real question in 2012 is whose potential supporters are more motivated to vote, and whether Obama can rely on anything close to the turnout he got in 2008.
But this time around there isn't much enthusiasm for either candidate.
The Republican base has never particularly liked Romney, and many Democrats have been disappointed in Obama.