A lack of engagement

Yet another junk study to make red states look bad.

I got your lack of engagement right here.

I’ve talked about WalletHub before, but this time they get into what they call “political engagement.” Using their formula, they determined the top two states for political engagement are Maryland and Virginia, with Delaware coming in 11th.

Perhaps you look at political engagement like I do: I vote in every election, once in awhile I fork over a little bit of money to candidates, and for two decades of my life I was involved in party politics, ranging from the Young Republicans to the committees that run party affairs in three counties in two states. Add in this particular website with a heavy dose of political affairs and I’d guess I’m probably in the top 1% of involvement over my life.

But while they have some of the same factors, their weighting lends itself to the conclusion they want: that blue states are better somehow. Much of that stems from their data set that includes the 2020 election, where less lenient rules regarding mail-in votes led to higher “turnout” for blue states. (The photo above is from the 2020 election, where hardy and unafraid Delawareans turned out to vote, mainly for Donald Trump.)

For example, over 1/3 of their rating comes from two aspects having to do with the 2020 election: percentage of voters who voted in 2020 and a comparison of that number to their number in 2016. If a state handed out mail-in ballots like candy, it stands to reason they’ll have a higher “turnout.” After all, Delaware did manage to bump up its turnout 4% between the two elections, and much of that was mail-in ballots. (It probably didn’t hurt to have the opportunity for a “favorite son” president for the first time, even though he was born in Pennsylvania.) Add in the part of the formula that gives the same weight to per capita political giving (that’s REALLY going to favor blue states given the ActBlue scandal) as it does the aforementioned 2020 voting, but four times the amount to political or civic volunteering, and you get skewed results.

There’s one thing that so-called “red states” seem to have in common: they have more people who would be considered working class and don’t make time for politics. After all, working a job and a side hustle apiece and barely having enough money (or time) to get dinner at the local greasy spoon a couple times a month isn’t conducive to a lot of political activity. Alas, they are the ones who are least engaged, along with Bible-believing Christians.

Whether they skewed the results or not, this also presents an opportunity for improvement. Presuming the “red states” are those that wish to return our nation to a time when Rule of Law was sacrosanct and people were about minimum government and maximum morality, they have the most room for growth in these areas. Let’s get started with this election.

Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.