--- title: Most People Don’t Regret Not Voting in 2016 Election: Study description: Most Americans who chose not to vote during the 2016 presidential election say they have no regrets about passing on their democratic right. canonical: https://time.com/4608407/pew-research-poll-election-2016/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-20T20:30:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:32:20.167Z article:section: Politics og:title: Most People Who Didn't Vote in the 2016 Election Don't Regret It: Study og:description: Some of the non-voters feel their vote wouldn’t have mattered og:url: https://time.com/4608407/pew-research-poll-election-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23055d7dc181fdde/6988b39d86f68e5c376e3011/election-pew-poll-voting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-US-VOTE-TRUMP-CLINTON og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most People Who Didn't Vote in the 2016 Election Don't Regret It: Study twitter:description: Some of the non-voters feel their vote wouldn’t have mattered twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23055d7dc181fdde/6988b39d86f68e5c376e3011/election-pew-poll-voting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most People Who Didn't Vote in the 2016 Election Don't Regret It: Study ## Video: Donald Trump Runs for President: A Look Back [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Runs for President: A Look Back](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dgn8DCbB.m3u8) (7:19)  _Published 2016-10-31. In one of the most shocking U.S. elections in modern political history, Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton._  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 20, 2016 8:30 PM UTC  This combination photo shows the silhouettes of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on July 18, 2016 and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on February 4, 2016. This combination photo shows the silhouettes of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on July 18, 2016 and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on February 4, 2016.DESK/AFP/Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 20, 2016 8:30 PM UTC Most Americans who chose not to vote during the [2016 presidential election](http://time.com/4607217/electoral-college-faithless-electors-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/) say they have no regrets about passing on their basic democratic right to do so, [a new study has found](http://www.people-press.org/2016/12/20/in-elections-wake-partisans-assess-the-state-of-their-parties). Fifty-five percent of the non-voters interviewed for the Pew Research Center’s latest poll say they do not wish they had voted. Some of those people say their lack of anguish comes from not liking any of the candidates or feeling like their vote wouldn’t matter. Less shockingly, results of the Pew study, which were released Tuesday, also found that 79% of Republicans say they are optimistic about the future of the GOP following the election of Republican [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4607958/donald-trump-university-settlement/?xid=homepage) while Democrats’ optimism has fallen to 61% from 77% before the election. Democrats who were surveyed were more likely than Republicans to say their party has done “too little” to address the concerns of minority groups and women. The Pew poll was conducted between Nov. 29 and Dec. 12 and interviewed 4,183 adults. 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