>On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 12:31 PM, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com>
>wrote:
> > Eric Beck:
> >
> >>> Nonvoters are not all that different from voters ...
> >>
> >>
> >> But that's not the point. The point is that they didn't vote.
> >
> >
> > That doesn't sound like "a point" to me; what's the implication you're
> > getting at?
> >
> > The usual one, which Carl seems to try to make explicit, is that the reason
> > the US gets the outcomes we get is because only a small percentage of
> people
> > are required to win an election. Doug refutes that, which sounds like a
> > point to me. What's yours?
Doug's point has been that the poor and downtrodden aren't likely to have views that are politically progressive. Thus, while they may, by wide margins, be in favor of bigger government and more services, they are still suspect because, according to that poll, when asked if they are satisfied with the *federal government*, while a majority are frustrated or angry (69&) a minority are content with the federal government (25%). That's compared to likely voters who are likewise frustrated or angry (82%) v. 16% who are content with the federal government.
The other question where there were differences > than the margin of error was on whether they were satisfied with the nation. Here, nonvoters and voters alike were more likely to be dissatisified than satisfied.
Among nonvoters, 65% dissatisfied with the state of the nation. Among voters, 75% were dissatisfied with the state of the nation.
30% of nonvoters were satisfied while 20% of voters were satisfied.
Looking at hte historical data that the Pew center provides, I would contend that, in that survey conducted 2010, the disparity in this poll question would drop by 5% were Obama not in office OR if a Republican were in office. In other words, the higher levels of anger,dissatisfaction, discontent among *likely* voters is due to the rise in conservatives who are pissed off and moblized against obama.
I think ignoring the majority of opinion is telling in so far as it doesn't highlight the fact that a *majority* of nonvoters are dissatisfied with the nation and a *majority* of nonvoters are also discontented with the federal government.