It’s hard to say this definitively, so I won’t say it definitively. What I will say is that it looks like, between 2016 and 2020, more people picked a side in the presidential manifestation of whatever the best term is for what I’ll call “this culture war.”
Total votes cast for president increased by nearly 16% from last election to this one, and while some of that can be attributed to increased ballot access, one would assume that a lot of it (technical term, there) came from people either showing up when they hadn’t shown up before or returning to vote after deeming 2016’s slate unpalatable.
A narrative in 2016 was that we were choosing between the two worst candidates ever. They were historically unpopular. And an assumption, at the time, could have been that dislike for one or the other would motivate turnout. But while it’s fair to speculate that dislike for Donald Trump motivated one side of this year’s turnout, it’s hard to believe, without some digging, that dislike for Joe Biden was a bigger motivator than dislike for Hillary Clinton.
It’s possible that even that’s beside the point. Whatever the motivator, more people flocked to their respective side, and while it’s possible this is a step towards healthy democracy, with more voices being heard, there’s also a bit of a chilling reality here:
People are caring more and more about politics, and when people care a lot about something, it gets fanatical on the fringes. Even some fanaticism can lead to violence, as we saw in D.C. over the weekend, and I’m not sure we can call fanaticism “small” these days. The caring is not necessarily what we think of when we say “political engagement.” It’s unclear it’s translating to detailed wrestling with issues or critical examinations of state and local candidates. And while the prevalence of straight-ticket voting isn’t a damning indicator against this kind of engagement, it does point to a more tribal approach to politics, which, again, is concerning for those of us wishing for more cultural unity in the United States.
More people voting is, on its own, a great thing. But when it appears in the context of a hate-fueled culture war like ours, it’s cause for pause, with the possibility existing that it’s just another manifestation of each side’s despising of the other—an attempt to end the culture war not by coming together, in arenas both political and apolitical, but by beating the opponent out of political power at the ballot box.
Please, continue to vote. But please, don’t do it out of hate.
