"In the complete 2005 season of American Idol just over 500 million votes were cast. In 2004 the American Presidential election garnered a paltry 122 million votes" I found this on a website, after doing a google search... and it's all over the media. GIVE ME A BREAK!! People seem to think it's such a big deal that Idol votes were so much more present than presidential election votes... I thought it was funny the first time I heard it on the news... and then it got really, really old. It's still talked about, and still made out to be a big deal. Are people not looking at this with common sense?
Okay, yes, most of us love the staple cast and contestants... and not everybody loves our last set of presidential candidates. But, here's the kicker... You have to REGISTER and be at least 18 years old to vote for America's leader. You have to DIAL A PHONE to vote for the next American Idol. You don't have to be 18... you don't even have to be eight. You don't have to "register," and you aren't limited to one vote... you're limited to two hours. You don't have to use gas to get to the polls, and you don't have to decipher any ballots... you just pick a person and dial a phone.
The same article was explaining how you could American Idolize the Presidential Elections too... it said that each voter could register their telephone number and vote that way... Right... HOW WOULD THAT WORK? What about all of the people that don't have phones, or those that are on family cell phone plans? What a way to encourage the lower class citizens that can't afford a telephone... tell them that they can't vote for the candidate that's going to best help them get on track.
Sorry, American Idol is on... triggered my thoughts.
People voting in National elections is always going to be low and has been. Some people are not as educated about our politics to even go out to vote, but it doesn't take rocket science to vot for and American Idol. Its crazy buts thats how it goes in our society today. MAybe if the media stopped focusing on all the bad things and try and educate young people, then maybe their would be a higher voter turnout for National elections. But until then.. were going to have idiots in office making stupid decisions.
hey i definitely agree, in fact i just finished writing a blog about the topic, although in a different approach!
The decline in democratic participation is definitely tragic.
I mean, why do you think so many people feel apathetic about our voting system?
Er well just to point out, American idol gets around 20-30 million votes every week, with individuals voting multiple times. The shows statistics say around 18-21 million people watch a week, and it can be assumed that perhaps half of that vote... and this is over a course of weeks. So while it is sad that the voting statistics for America keep declining, American Idol doesn't necessarily garner more individual votes than the Presidential election-it's the same people voting multiple times every week.
That's what my point was... so many people took it as me saying that it was pathetic that Idol gets more votes... oh well, just shows that people don't really care about the topics they're commenting on, they're just doing it for their ten points!
good point! i am 17, so i cant vote, but i can dial a phone, and i dialed it for taylor!! ^_^
its not surprising american idokl gets more votes- people are more interested in the media than they are in politics it seems ^_^
goo point very good point
France refers to low voting turnout as "the American disease." That in and of itself should be telling. And I have to admit that kids watching American Idol are allowed to vote, whereas people under 18 can't vote in national elections. American Idol has more press attention, more 'interesting' matter (I disagree with that), and a larger block of people who can vote.
You have to remember, people use there computers to spam calls to american idol servers. 500 million? What is the persentage of fake callers? Could the same thing happen to a President vote?
jsut a thought
-dave
thanks for pointing out that you can vote more than once for idol. I kept waiting for it to be mentioned, also I heard they made this computer dial different numbers automatically the whole time you could vote, so thats not even technically people voting.
it doesn't suprise me. take it further and look at gubernatorial and local elections. in the last gubernatorial elections in my state only 35% of the registered voters actually voted. thats pitiful.
Michael has hit on a very good (but all too often misunderstood) point: statistics don't mean anything without the context to explain precisely what they mean, and are quite often used outside of that context to suggest things that they don't mean.
And most people, unfortunately, seem unable (or unwilling to think long enough) to tell the difference.
The United States Election Project did an in-depth analysis of voter turnout and include that it really hasn't changed significantly in 1972:
Statistics on voter turnout presented here show that the much-lamented decline in voter participation is an artifact of the way in which it is measured. The most typical way to calculate the turnout rate is to divide the number of votes by what is called the "voting-age population" which consists of everyone age 18 and older residing in the United States. This includes persons ineligible to vote, mainly non-citizens and ineligible felons, and excludes overseas eligible voters. When turnout rates are calculated for those eligible to vote, a new picture of turnout emerges, which exhibits no decline since 1972.
http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.htm
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Pointlessly for Feingold
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I was beat to it. I just posted a blog with a very similar topic : )
Great minds thinking alike.