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.
未來12個月要舉行選舉的國家合計占全世界一半以上的人口——對民主國家來說，這將是刷新紀錄的一年。然而在很多地方，對選舉結果最舉足輕重的群體既不是擁護右翼候選人的選民，也不是支持左翼候選人的選民，既非民粹主義者的擁躉，也非當權派的追隨者。相反，這是一個截然不同的群體：那些不投票的人。