A thought.... provoked by filklore_on_lj

[fleetfootmike]

What percentage of the folks who don't vote in a supposedly 'sure' seat don't vote because they don't think voting against the clear favourite will make any difference?

What if they all voted?

Comments

[armb.livejournal.com]

> What if they all voted?

Then the ones who didn't bother voting because their preferred candidate was going to get in anyway would all vote too, and it almost certainly still wouldn't make any difference.

I'm going to vote anyway.

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

But you're effectively assuming that the spread of folks who don't vote is the same, or near the same, as those who do.

My contention is it potentially isn't.

[armb.livejournal.com]

No, my contention is that it is almost certainly not so different that it would change the result in somewhere seen as a safe seat.
(If you can come up with some method of persuading those who don't bother because it's a lost cause without also persuading those who don't bother because it's a done deal, then it would make a difference even if the spread was the same. In that case, I'd also like a pony.)

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

I'd like a pony too. I just haven't given up on the possibility of getting one.