The New York Times' Nate Cohn writes that many Democrats are blaming their poor performance on Tuesday on low turnout, even though their party invested millions in targeting young and minority voters who often don't vote in midterm elections. He points to a race where that was a factor - Virginia - and one where it was not - Colorado.
COTTonLINE believes a person not voting can arise from more than one mindset. To be sure, it often arises from a lack of interest in the down-ballot races featured in midterms. However, it can also arise from anger at the party for which one normally votes plus an unwillingness to vote for the other major party, long viewed as "the enemy."
Not voting can be an affirmative choice. A voter says: "I don't approve of either major party, each for different reasons, and can't be bothered casting a throwaway protest vote for a minor party."
Possible affirmative non-voters: a black evangelical who is pro-life, a young Jew angry at his party calling Netanyahu "chickenshit," a union member who opposes amnesty for illegals, a Hispanic activist who believes promised amnesty to be postponed or forgotten, an unemployed Millennial college grad who lives with parents. You can imagine others.
I'm not unhappy when people choose not to vote. If only a quarter of those eligible cast a ballot, then my vote speaks for four people, myself and three who didn't vote, bless 'em.
