Real Progress

Organized voters can—and have—made massive changes in American politics.

Voting is enormously powerful, which is why some politicians are afraid of it. Organized groups of voters backing upstart candidates have changed the positions of both major parties (especially on global trade). It’s hard to argue voting doesn’t work when you see organized groups of normal voters defeating business groups.

Pushed by voters supporting Donald Trump, the Republican Party has shifted its positions radically on trade, the national debt, and immigration. Voters also pushed the Democratic Party to oppose the TPP trade deal, and the role of big donors in Democratic politics has diminished as grassroots movements have started funding campaigns. All of these changes were voter-led, against opposition from established party figures.

The narrow passage of the Affordable Care Act allowed 20 million more people to get insurance, which undoubtedly saved lives, and also taxed business and high-income earners billions of dollars. This is a big change that only happened because of people voting.

Voting has been central to making political change throughout US history. When black women won the right to vote, they led successful campaigns against the lynching of African Americans. And the civil rights movement saw voting as a key foundation for securing equality in the US.

"Through the efforts of [our organizers] and a strong voting rights bill we are confident of breaking the shackles which so long have crippled the Negro’s advancement in the South. Our battle cry is 'Let My People Vote.'" - Martin Luther King Jr.

Who votes changes who's elected. After the Civil War, black men gained the right to vote and more than 2000 black men (many of whom had been enslaved just years before) were elected to office. This video describes how profound that change was, as well as how hard politicians fought to constrain it: