Four out of every ten U.S adults don’t vote. Turnout in the U.S. is lower than in Canada, Mexico and most of Europe.
Non-voters in the U.S. are often assumed to be young people, or Hispanics, or the poor. But the truth, according to The New York Times, is the majority of people who didn’t vote in the 2012 presidential election were white, middle-income and middle-aged.
A lot of factors go into whether someone votes, and demographics are just one consideration. Others include group culture, state competitiveness, and how hard it is to vote. But the general trend is, the richer, older and more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote. And among poor voters, blacks are almost twice as likely to vote as whites.
However, prominent studies have concluded that 100 percent participation would not result in significantly different outcomes.
