Sanders Claims Majority of Americans Don't Vote, Data Says Otherwise

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made apparent inaccurate claim regarding voter turnout while railing against “oligarchy” in American voting and the Koch Brothers on MSNBC’s “Ronan Farrow Daily” on Tuesday. 

Sanders claimed “what goes on now in America in an election especially like in November is the vast majority of the people no longer vote.”  Data from George Mason University’s United States Elections Project shows that 53.6 percent of the voting age population voted in the last presidential election, while 58 percent of the voting-eligible population voted. 

He also said “low-income people, working people to the tune of 80 percent don’t vote.”  Surveys by US Census Bureau for the 2012 election based on age and income show that no group reported not voting in such numbers.  The lowest turnout reported was 28.9 percent, a percentage shared by those aged 25-44 making between $15,000 and $19,999 and 18-24 year-olds in the $20,000-$29,999 bracket.

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