Biden or Trump? 1 in 5 voters says it doesn’t really matter.

22% of Americans don’t think the results of the next election will make a big difference in their lives.

Full transcript:

Scott Rasmussen  0:07  

Good morning, Scott Rasmussen here. Welcome to my podcast. Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day. Every weekday morning, I explore a new number, one that I find interesting and see what it tells us about the world around us. Today's number is one that is going to really irritate a political activist, political partisans on both sides. The number is 22. 22% of voters nationwide, basically one out of 5. 22% say, it doesn't really matter whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins the presidency in November. I know that's a stunning number for people who think that if their team doesn't win, the world will come to an end. But that's the view of one out of five voters, registered voters, nationwide. By the way, with all of these numbers, if you want the details, if you want the cross tabs or just more, more information on how the surveys were conducted, go to my website ScottRasmussen.com and you'll have all the information there. When I come back after the words from our sponsor, I'm going to be talking about these 22% and suggesting that our political leaders have a lot to learn from them. So, I'll be right back after this with more of Scott Rasmussen's number of the day. 

Scott Rasmussen  1:28  

Welcome back to Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day. I'm Scott Rasmussen and today's number is 22. 22% of voters say it really won't make any difference in their life whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump is elected president in November. And by the way, that's not the entire shock another 17% say, it'll only make a minor difference. So you've got about six out of 10 voters nationwide who think the election matters a lot and the rest either not at all or will make only a minor difference in their lives. Now, you know, when you talk to campaign people, when you talk to political activists, they're really agitated by this. Why are people why don't they understand that we're the good guys? Why don't they understand they should be supporting us? Why don't they get passionate? Why are, why are they shirking their civic duty?

Scott Rasmussen  2:21  

And I'm not going to defend anybody who thinks they don't have to study the issues or pay attention to current events. But I think we need to keep the political process in a little better perspective. You know, two out of three voters recognize a basic reality about America. And that is change. Almost all positive change in our country begins from outside the political process. You know, in political leaders and their agendas, they do have an impact, they matter in the short term, they matter about specific policies along the way. But in the broader stream of history, it is the culture that leads us forward. You know, I wrote a book focusing on this theme a lot. The sun is still rising, politics has failed, but America will not. And as I was doing some research for the book, I had to go back and explore the 1970s, the era of my high school and first pass through college days. And I was kind of surprised I read all these names that were so big in the 70s, these famous political leaders. And they're totally irrelevant today. And hardly anybody remembers them. But there were two guys who weren't in the headlines at all because they were starting new companies in their garage. Their names: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. These were the people who had a bigger impact on the world that we live in than all those politicians of the 1970s. Now, I don't claim for a moment that the 22% of voters who say it doesn't really matter who wins the presidential election. I don't claim for a moment they deeply thought about, you know, a theory of why this matters, but they do see in their, in their own experience that change doesn't really happen the way politicians say it will. You know, it's not something that if you elect this person and everything he says will happen. Because the political leadership model is wrong. The people who believe that politicians lead our country, they've got it backwards. And this is true all the way from the very beginning, the very founding of the United States of America. You know, on July 4, every year we celebrate the founding of our nation, we have a big birthday party, and it's all about the Declaration of Independence and the noble ideals that were spelled out in that document. And I think a lot of people come away with the idea that somehow those inspiring words led colonists to revolt against the tyranny of the British Empire. But that's not the way it happened at all. In fact, 15 months before the Declaration of Independence. was was drafted and signed and approved 15 months before that, the war started at Lexington and Concord the Shot Heard 'Round the World. And there had been a decade of unrest before those events. By the time the Continental Congress got around to approving the Declaration of Independence, saying that we were a free and independent nation, well, most of the British governors had already been forced to flee. What the Continental Congress did then was the proper thing to do is very important. But they were ratifying, they were confirming a decision that had already been made by the American people. So, we have to get out of our heads the idea that political leaders determine the course of our nation's history. That's just not true. The culture leads, politicians lag behind. I have lots of examples of this in my book, and by the way, you can get that obviously at Amazon or anywhere else that you like to buy books. But there are story after story after story of political leaders who thought they were going to do something, and something else came out of it. And that's the good news. By the way. In the book, I explained why I'm very optimistic about our nation's future, I believe our nation's best days are still to come. And if I'm ever fortunate enough to have grandchildren, I believe that, you know, they will enjoy a life far beyond anything I can imagine. And I have this optimism despite the fact that I'm deeply pessimistic about our political system. And the reason for that, very simple, because I realized that the politicians aren't nearly as important as they think they are. Now, I'll be back with some closing thoughts in just a moment. I hope you'll take a moment and subscribe to Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day, share it with your friends. And you can also find it at JustTheNews.com. So, I'll be back right after this.

Scott Rasmussen  7:03  

Welcome back to Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day. I'm Scott Rasmussen and today's number 22. 22% of voters nationwide say it doesn't really matter whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins the presidency. You know, these people are a mystery to the political world. For those who believe that the fate of the nation depends on their candidate winning, it's just impossible to grasp how somebody could say it doesn't matter. But two out of three voters tell us look, positive change in America comes from outside the political process. And I think that's an important thing to keep in mind. It's not that we should shirk our duty, we should get involved, we should vote, we should learn about the issues, we should stay informed of current events. But we also have to keep the political process in a little bit of perspective. Throughout our nation's history, the reality has been that the culture leads and politicians lag behind. The political world has an important role to play in our society, but it's not the lead role. And that's a theme I'll be returning to a lot in coming episodes of this podcast. I'm Scott Rasmussen. Be sure to subscribe to Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day you can do it at JustTheNews.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. Look forward to chatting again tomorrow. Have a great day.