Why don't people vote?

Why don't people vote?

Oona King (Author and Former Member of Parliament) gives expert video advice on: How would you sort out gun crime?; Do you think the Olympics are going to be worth the cost?; Why don't people trust politicians? and more...

People don't vote for a variety of reasons, the main one being that they don't think it will make a difference, or that they think all the politicians are the same, political parties are the same, politicians just want to line their own pockets, they're in it for themselves. I think what people don't understand is actually how precious our democracy is, and that if you don't vote, you're eroding the democratic mandate. And it gets to a point beneath which you start losing democratic legitimacy. And actually our democracy is precious, and even if you're going to go and scribble out and make a protest vote, that is better, that will be recorded as a spoiled vote, rather than us having a spoiled democracy, which is the way we're going.