this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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What's a common "fact" that's spread around that's actually not true and pisses you off that too many people believe it?

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[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 53 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (7 children)

"Half of Americans voted for this"

No, half the people who actually showed up to vote voted for the guy, but not necessarily all he is and has been doing. It's actually only about 20-22% or less of the population that actually voted this guy into office and fewer than that are on board with current events. Far from "half of Americans", so just stop it.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 44 points 2 months ago (3 children)

People who didn't care enough to vote are just as bad as the ones who voted for Trump. They were warned what was coming and they allowed it

[–] Pelicanen@fedia.io 19 points 2 months ago

While voter apathy is widespread in the US, note that voter disenfranchisement has been honed over decades so many people either didn't get to vote or could not vote because the impact to them short-term was too great to afford making decisions for the long term (e.g. people losing their jobs while living paycheck-to-paycheck).

[–] theherk@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Approximately half as bad, in raw outcome terms. A vote for the opponent is significantly worse than not voting. But yeah, big losers for not even voting.

Mathematically speaking, each of them is half as bad as one Trump voter

[–] GalacticSushi@piefed.blahaj.zone 14 points 2 months ago

No, half the people who actually showed up to vote voted for the guy

He only got 49.8% of the popular vote in 2024, so while it's close enough that most people would accept rounding up, even this statement is not factual in the most literal interpretation.

[–] Aatube@piefed.social 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

NPR: Trump would have won even if everyone eligible voted. I agree that substantial Trump voters disapprove of current events, but the truth is one in two US citizens preferred Trump over Harris on Election Day. Not to mention turnout was 64% not 42%, so it's 30% not 20%

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

so it's 30% not 20%

Fair. I was going by population numbers vs votes cast and didn't have the voter turnout numbers handy when I originally wrote that out and was paraphrasing from that to save time.

But that's still far from half, and I'm tired of people using the misconception/phrase to justify their xenophobic rhetoric.

[–] Aatube@piefed.social 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

oh i thought you were referring to people saying it to illustrate how bad the system is and how important trump winning the election was lol. i definitely agree that it doesn't justify what he's doing (even if it legally stands, even if it legally stands, it doesn't stand socially)

but it is not inaccurate to say nearly half of the citizens preferred him on election day. per the link, pew research shows 48% of non-voters would've voted for trump as opposed to 45%, with a pretty high validity.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

it also doesnt count un-registered people, it just assume anyone of at age that can vote dint, some arnt even registered, and some are unable to vote for one reason or another that is not due to personal choice.

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

"We are not collectively responsible for the output of this system we collectively use to run our country". Disagree.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io -5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A lot of people who voted for him didn't like either choice and thought he was least evil for whatever reason. We can never know how evil Harris would have been - even if she wins in the future that doesn't show what she would have been if she was in now. The situation and people change over time

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

lol. we 100% could know harris would be less evil than trump. it would have been 4 more years of essentially the same administration but with a younger bend which likely would have been better. only reason people think of trump less evil than harris are ones you cheer on the ice things so they have a twisted version of right and wrong.