Rallies Don't Translate into Votes

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Marchers are not homogenous. Only the individual knows why he or she is marching. 

The size of a political rally does not translate into votes. Take Donald Trump’s rallies for instance. He can have 2,000 people in a Make America Great Again (MAGA) rally, but that does not guarantee him 2,000 votes in 2024. The vote is secret. Therefore we don’t know the motive for attending rallies.

That woman in a red jacket might be at the rally on the instruction of the twins’ father, the chairperson of the local Republican Party. She might have voted for Barack Obama and later Joe Biden, but the twin’s father doesn’t know that because the vote is secret. She puts a smile on her face when he tells the twins the GOP has been the family political party for generations. She meekly follows him to MAGA rallies, for peace. That is what her mother told her before the wedding. You are the peace keeper in your home.

Rallies are not automatic votes, because we don’t know the reason why all those people are marching to City Hall. Some had to attend because the union at work demands it. Others have absolutely nothing to do with their lives. There are some that go to marches because of friends. Maybe I did not want Britain to exit the European Union (EU), but I attended all BREXIT rallies in London. Peer pressure, but I voted for STAY in the E.U. Friends don’t know that, because the vote is secret.

Are women in anti-abortion rallies against abortion? We shall never know. They’ll be alone in the voting booth in 2024, and vote Democrat because they believe in the woman’s right to her body.  Church members will never know. Political rallies do not translate into votes because people can be wolves in sheep’s clothing, as the English proverb goes. Other people attend rallies to spy for the other side.

Therefore, political commentary cannot be solely based on the size of a rally, because of that woman in a red jacket.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

 

 

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