Is voter apathy "real?" [View All]

[Jackpine Radical]

I spent several hours on Saturday as a volunteer making phone calls in behalf of Russ Feingold and WI Gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett.

The results of the phone banking were enlightening in a stomach-churning sort of way. I generally take my time with calls, and get into conversations with people if they are willing to do so when I call. I talked a few Russ-leaning people into agreeing to vote, and maybe did some good that way, but I heard a lot of desperation mixed with apathy out there.

Some were saying they weren't going to vote because they voted for Obama wanting change, and they didn't get it. One woman talked about how she just barely missed qualifying for Badger Care (WI's extension to Medicaid), and had a policy from her $8/hour job with a $3000 deductible, which was the same as not having insurance as far as she was concerned. It didn’t do much good to point out that the Health Insurance Reform legislation won’t swing into full effect for another three years.

Another woman said she has been out of work for 2 years, hasn't been able to make her house payments, and is about to be foreclosed on. She wanted to know why the billions in bailouts went to the banks. Wouldn't it have been better to give that money to the people who needed it and let them pay their bills with it?

The bailouts were a recurrent them. Jobs were another. People were simply not much moved by hearing how much worse things might have been under Republican rule.

I would summarize the afternoon of phone calling by saying that I think the Democratic Party is in deeper trouble than they recognize. People who voted for Obama have not felt much change in their lives except an increasing sense of desperation. They are demoralized. They feel burned. They are in "Fool me once…" mode. They're not just bitter at Democrats; I doubt that many of them will vote for Republicans.

They just won't vote.