Where Have All the Voters Gone?

1960 to 1964: Democrats gained 8.9 million votes, Republicans lost 7.0 million. Barry Goldwater scared people away.

1964 to 1968: Republicans gained 4.6 million, Democrats lost 11.9 million. People were disillusioned by war, riots and assassinations. There didn't seem to be anything to vote for.

1968 to 1972: Republicans gained 15.4 million, Democrats lost 8.1 million. George McGovern was seen as an extemist.

1972 to 1976: Democrats gained 11.7 million, Republicans lost 8.0 million. Watergate 

1976 to 1980: Republicans gained 4.8 million, Democrats lost 5.4 million. Inflation.

1980 to 1984: Republicans gained 10.5 million, Democrats gained 2.1 million. First time since Presidential politics became widely televised that both parties gained voters.

1984 to 1988: Republicans lost 5.6 million, Democrats gained 4.3 million. First time in the TV era that the winning party lost voters and the losing party gained. To be fair, neither George Bush the father nor Mike Dukakis was an inspiring candidate.

1988 to 1992: Democrats gained 3.1 million, Republicans lost 9.7 million. Recession, and Bill Clinton was an inspiring candidate -- at the time, anyway.

1992 to 1996: Democrats gained 2.5 million, Republicans gained 93,000.

1996 to 2000: Republicans gained 12.2 million, Democrats gained 6.5 million.

2000 to 2004: Republicans gained 11.6 million, Democrats gained 8.0 million.

2004 to 2008: Democrats gained 10.4 million, Republicans lost 2.1 million. Recession, and Barack Obama was an inspiring candidate.

2008 to 2012: Democrats lost 4.5 million, Republicans gained 1.0 million. 

2012 to 2016: Republicans gained 2.0 million. Democrats lost 62,000. Millions of people voted who had never voted before, because Donald Trump was the first candidate who was ever told them that it was okay to be bigoted, and they rewarded him.

2016 to 2020: Democrats gained 15.4 million, Republicans gained 11.3 million. It was generally accepted that Trump was a disaster. Four years later, people forgot that.

2020 to 2024, as of 7:00 AM EST on November 6: Republicans lost 3.1 million, Democrats lost 15.0 million.

Where was this "record turnout" we kept hearing about? Where are all these "newly registered voters" we kept hearing about? Where are all these "people who've never voted for a Democrat before"?

Where the flying fuck are all these millions of young women that Taylor Swift supposedly registered to vote at her concerts?

And you can't say, "A lot of them went to Trump," anyway. Because, at last check, he had a net loss of voters, too! If he did get them, or a big chunk of them, that might well have been too suspicious. 

Even before you consider what happened to all the new voters, when you add up the drops on both sides, that's 18.1 million people who voted in 2020, the year when it was harder to vote than ever before, because of COVID restrictions; who didn't vote in 2024, when there was no excuse not to vote.

You can't blame COVID restrictions: They're all gone. You can't blame the weather: Coast to coast, border to border, it couldn't have been better. You can't say you didn't know enough about the candidates, because you knee that one of them was Donald Trump, and the Democrats could have nominated me, as unfit for the office as I am, and it would have been an improvement! 

So, what happened? Where did those 18 million people go? Did Thanos "snap them away"? No, because he's a fictional character, and the Infinity Gems/Stones don't exist.

Did they register, or maintain their registration, and simply not vote, because they didn't like either candidate? If that was the case, they should have sucked it up and voted for Harris, anyway, because she's not a fascist, a rapist, a felon, and an idiot, who sent terrorists to try to sabotage the last election, while Trump is all five.

Eighteen million voters. Where did they go? 

Something isn't right here. Above and beyond the result. If anything, population growth, alone, should have given both Parties more votes than last time. It's happened before.

Where did they go? Why haven't we heard from them?

To paraphrase Pete Seeger -- who, unlike Kamala, actually was a Communist, and was proud of it -- Where have all the voters gone? Long time passing.

UPDATE: As of 11:00 PM on November 6, Trump was down 1.7 million; the Democrats, down 13.4 million. 15.1 million total voters lost.