From the 2012 General Election:

A) Total number of Americans eligible to vote 218,959,000
B) Total number of Americans registered to vote 146,311,000 (67% of A).
C) Total number of Americans who voted in the 2012 Presidential election 126,144,000 (58% of A).

Who registered (% of group)?
Male 69.1
Female 72.8
White 73.5
Black 69.7
Asian 55.3
Hispanic 59.4
Age 18 to 24 58.5
Age 25 to 34 66.4
Age 35 to 44 69.9
Age 45 to 54 73.5
Age 55 to 64 76.6
Age 65 to 74 78.1
Age 75 or older 76.6
Less than high school graduate 50.5
High school graduate 64.1
Some college 75.3
Bachelor’s degree 81.2
Advanced degree 85.8
Income less than $20,000 63.7
$20,000 to $29,999 67.1
$30,000 to $39,999 71.1
$40,000 to $49,999 72.6
$50,000 to $74,999 78.2
$75,000 to $99,999 81.9
$100,000 and over 79.6
Owns home 74.5
Rents home 60.1

Reasons given for not voting (% of eligible non-voters):
Too busy conflicting schedule 17.5
Illness or disability 14.9
Not interested 13.4
Did not like candidates or campaign issues 12.9
Other 11.3
Out of town 8.8
Don’t know 7
Registration problems 6
Inconvienient polling place 2.7
Transportation problems 2.6
Forgot 2.6
Bad weather 0.2
[Thanks to statisticbrain.com]

NOTE: Obama won by 4.2 million popular votes possibly because 92.8 million eligible voters DID NOT VOTE!

So, if American voters numbered 100, 58 of them would not vote. That leaves 21 votes for each of the candidates. The candidate who gets 22 votes wins even though 78 voters did not vote for him!

That’s what happens when citizens do not bother to register AND vote.

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