Over the next 12 months, voters in countries representing more than half of the world’s population will get the chance to head to the ballot box — a record-breaking year for democracy. And yet in many places, the voting bloc with the most influence on the outcome won’t be the one backing the right-wing candidate or the left-wing one, the populist or the establishment runner. Instead it will be a different kind of group entirely: non-voters. On November 5, Americans look very likely to face the same choice as they did four years ago, though the candidates might seem considerably less appealing this time around even to their previous supporters. President Joe Biden, who currently has approval ratings of 38 per cent (even lower than Donald Trump’s rating at the same point in his presidency) would be 86 years old by the time his second term was out, while Trump himself, who would be 82, currently faces 91 counts of felony across four criminal charges.
未来12个月要举行选举的国家合计占全世界一半以上的人口——对民主国家来说，这将是刷新纪录的一年。然而在很多地方，对选举结果最举足轻重的群体既不是拥护右翼候选人的选民，也不是支持左翼候选人的选民，既非民粹主义者的拥趸，也非当权派的追随者。相反，这是一个截然不同的群体：那些不投票的人。