After learning about rational abstention and the median voter theorem in class, I gave serious thought to not voting in this election. I'm someone who has voted in almost every yearly election since I became of age, save for when I was studying abroad. However, I figured that it would be nice to save time on not driving to the polling place and waiting in line. I consider myself a liberal, and since Virginia is a blue state, I didn't think that the odds of my vote deciding how Virginia would go would be very high. When I told my boyfriend that I was leaning towards not voting, he didn't really get it and said that if everyone decided to rationally abstain then the system wouldn't work. Instead of getting into an argument over this I just decided I'd go vote, and I waited in line for an hour. I decided that the temporal cost of voting was lower than the potential temporal cost of arguing and the emotional stress from arguing. I think this is a perfect example of how social pressure can cause rational people to vote even if they don't really think it'll make much of a difference in the outcome.
The voter turnout amongst 18-29 year-olds has increased by millions since the 2016 election. I believe that social pressure has a lot to do with this. Influencers and high-profile celebrities alike have used social media to encourage followers to vote, from giving information about registering and finding a polling place to outright stating which candidate they support. Young people have been holding their friends accountable for voting, and have used social media to make voting somewhat of a trend to give their peers a fear of missing out. In many cases, rational young people like me decided that the costs to them of voting in this election were less than the costs of the social consequences of not voting.
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