In a perfect democracy, at least 50% of people would support every decision.

The U.S. falls short of this goal.

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Spoken For.
Senate vote: S. 3816 // September 28, 2010Needed 60 votes to end debate

Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to S. 3816

Who won, and how much of the country was behind them

Won the vote · Nay

45 votes, representing 91,558,180 people39.0%of U.S. adults

Lost the vote · Yea

53 votes, representing 141,754,920 people60.4%of U.S. adults

The dotted gap is 0.6% of U.S. adults whose member did not vote, voted “present,” or whose seat was vacant.

Share of U.S. adults represented, the Senate. The winning side fell 11.0 points short of a majority of the country.
SideOutcomeVotesShare of U.S. adults
NayWon4539.0%
YeaLost5360.4%
Not represented on this questionNo position taken00.6%

Senate This side won even though more senators, and more Americans, voted the other way. Ending debate needed 60 votes here, not a majority.