How so?

[spikepipsqueak]

This turned up in my inbox just now.

I post it in its entirety because I think they might have a point, but my question arises in the second paragraph.

Do so few Americans choose to vote that 8 million can make a massive difference? Aren't there 300 million and wouldn't more than half of those be voting age?

Dear friends,

Here's an amazing new way for ALL of us to help stop Trump, and bury his hateful, fear-mongering, sexist, racist politics forever:

Over eight million US citizens live outside the US -- enough to deliver an election landslide. Most of them are as horrified by Trump as the rest of us, but only 12% of them vote!

So Avaaz has built a simple tool to help Americans vote from overseas! Registration closes in days -- we need to get this tool RIGHT AWAY to every American we or our friends know - share it with EVERYONE:

Click to stop Trump now

"President Trump" terrifies all of us -- he wants to ban Muslims, tear up the world's agreements on climate change, murder the families of suspected terrorists and doesn’t understand why he can’t use nukes!

Many of us who can't vote in the US have felt helpless to stop this rise of proto-fascism. Now we can help, by helping our US friends to get in the fight. The crazy thing is no one else is doing this, not even Hillary Clinton’s campaign!

This could be a game-changer, but we have to make it massive and fast, before registration closes:

Click to stop Trump now

Trump is all about dividing us, Americans against each other, and against the rest of the world. What better way to defeat him than coming together in unity like never before, with globally aware Americans at the forefront of an unprecedented global get-out-the-vote effort.

Imagine if love and unity didn't just defeat Trump's hate and division, but created an historic landslide defeat. THAT would send the message we need to send to the Donald Trumps in all our countries, and be a powerful positive lesson for all of us and our children and grandchildren.

With hope,

Allison, Rewan, Emma, Oli, Ben, Nick and the whole Avaaz team


More Information:

Expatriate Americans are the most important voting bloc you’ve never heard of (London School of Economics)
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...t-important-voting-bloc-youve-never-heard-of/

America's Overseas Voters Are Not Impressed (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-03-01/america-s-overseas-voters-are-not-impressed

Democrats Abroad: What the Democratic Party could learn from its overseas footsoldiers (Salon)
http://www.salon.com/2016/08/06/dem...learn-from-its-overseas-footsoldiers_partner/

Clinton's lead over Trump narrows to less than three points: Reuters/Ipsos poll (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll-idUSKCN10G2BQ



Avaaz is a 44-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

You became a member of the Avaaz movement and started receiving these emails when you signed "Rome Summit: Stop the Food Crisis" on 2008-05-28

To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).

 

[Trausti]

Thursday's report, from the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, put 2012 voter turnout at 57.5% of all eligible voters, compared to 62.3% who voted in 2008 and 60.4% who cast ballots in 2004. In 2000, the turnout rate was 54.2%

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/08/report-shows-turnout-lower-than-2008-and-2004/

The assumed 8 million persons outside the US would only make a difference if they voted in swing states. And a lot of that number is active military; which favors Trump.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I see. And thanks.

Here, voting is compulsory and the Electoral Commission gets all bent out of shape if you don't vote, even if you are overseas.

Does the government encourage registration and voting amongst the armed forces?

 

[untermensche]

I see. And thanks.

Here, voting is compulsory and the Electoral Commission gets all bent out of shape if you don't vote, even if you are overseas.

Does the government encourage registration and voting amongst the armed forces?

Republicans create barriers to voting that effect the poor more than others.

In the US about as many people don't vote as vote.

In the US mandatory voting would be attacked as a huge violation of civil liberties.

By people who don't give a damn about civil liberties.

 

[ronburgundy]

Thursday's report, from the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, put 2012 voter turnout at 57.5% of all eligible voters, compared to 62.3% who voted in 2008 and 60.4% who cast ballots in 2004. In 2000, the turnout rate was 54.2%

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/08/report-shows-turnout-lower-than-2008-and-2004/

The assumed 8 million persons outside the US would only make a difference if they voted in swing states. And a lot of that number is active military; which favors Trump.

And the fact that Trump says he knows more about ISIS than the US generals, shows you just how dangerously stupid most active duty military must be to favor him.
OF course, there are plenty of other things showing how dangerously stupid they are.

 

[Keith&Co.]

And the fact that Trump says he knows more about ISIS than the US generals, shows you just how dangerously stupid most active duty military must be to favor him.

They're just sure that a Democratic president will slash military funding. and they believe Hillary wants to strip the military down and kick it to the curb.

I actually knew guys in uniform a few years back who admitted that Dubya was an idiot, but they voted for him because a Democrat would have shut down the military.

 

[untermensche]

And the fact that Trump says he knows more about ISIS than the US generals, shows you just how dangerously stupid most active duty military must be to favor him.

They're just sure that a Democratic president will slash military funding. and they believe Hillary wants to strip the military down and kick it to the curb.

I actually knew guys in uniform a few years back who admitted that Dubya was an idiot, but they voted for him because a Democrat would have shut down the military.

Veterans tend to lean Republican but can easily see through Trump's nonsense.

Trump insulted a lot of veterans with his remarks about McCain.

 

[RavenSky]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/08/report-shows-turnout-lower-than-2008-and-2004/

The assumed 8 million persons outside the US would only make a difference if they voted in swing states. And a lot of that number is active military; which favors Trump.

And the fact that Trump says he knows more about ISIS than the US generals, shows you just how dangerously stupid most active duty military must be to favor him.
OF course, there are plenty of other things showing how dangerously stupid they are.

Military historically leans Republican, but that doesn't mean they are actually supporting Trump at the rate they normally support a Republican nominee.

This is a bit old (July 2016) so it may be different now, but:

Military troops favor Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson for president over Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, according to a new survey.

Johnson garnered 38.7 percent of the active duty vote, versus 30.9 for Trump, and 14.1 for Clinton, according to the survey, which was conducted via the popular military personality Doctrine Man.

This more recent poll doesn't include other candidates, so of course Trump (as the Republican) wins the majority of the military vote, but look at their responses to the other questions: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...clinton-among-military-veteran-voters-n643501

This one from Five-Thirty-Eight is interesting too: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-impact-will-the-military-vote-have/

 

[prideandfall]

And the fact that Trump says he knows more about ISIS than the US generals, shows you just how dangerously stupid most active duty military must be to favor him.

They're just sure that a Democratic president will slash military funding. and they believe Hillary wants to strip the military down and kick it to the curb.

I actually knew guys in uniform a few years back who admitted that Dubya was an idiot, but they voted for him because a Democrat would have shut down the military.

i love how US politics is so full of absolute bullshit like this... little things that "everyone knows" about the parties that are so clearly false and yet people continue to actually live their lives and make decisions based on the falsehoods.

"democrats reduce the military" or "republicans are fiscally responsible" and all the other little BS sayings that people buy into... i just don't get it.
maybe that's how it was in the fucking 60s or 70s but it hasn't been that way since at least the mid 80s - that was THIRTY GOD DAMN YEARS AGO and people still treat politics like it hasn't changed.
i guess this is also a political system that says things like "lincoln was a republican, therefor republicans aren't racist" and people think that argument makes sense, it's just so hard sometimes to try and wrap your brain around the cultural zeitgeist of a country predominantly populated by people who are literally, physically, retarded.