The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th presidential election. The elections took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The Democratic political leader was incumbent President Barack Obama, and his candidate was Vice President Joe Biden. During this election, the percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots shows that the rate was lower than in the last two presidential elections. Voter turnout declined from 62.3% of citizens eligible to vote in 2008 to an estimated 57.5 in 2012. The above calculation was also lower than the 60.4% in the 2004 election, however higher than the 54.2% voter turnout in the 2000 election. Despite an increase of more than eight million voters within the eligible population, voter turnout fell from 131 million voters in 2008 to approximately 126 million of voters in 2012. When all ballots were tallied, approximately 93 million eligible voters did not vote. There must be some contributing factors to why there is a decline in voter turnout. To examine this decline in voter turnout we must consider several factors. One of these factors is the lack of political effectiveness. Political efficacy means that people are less likely to vote if they do not believe their vote will be counted or if they do not trust the government. Low trust in the electoral process leads to the belief that a person's vote doesn't really matter. Citizens show lack of interest in politics because they have limited information about the government. The percentage of Americans who say they have “trust and confidence” in the presidency and Congress has declined in recent decades. Americans' trust in government was 70% in the 1960s, then dropped to 40% in the 1980s. A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that “Only 2…half of the paper…who are eligible to vote should get out and vote. We fought to expand suffrage and now we must demonstrate to the government that we can vote. Works Cited Sullivan, Sean. "States with the highest and lowest turnout in 2012, in 2 graphs." www.washingtonpost.com. NP, March 12, 2012. Web. December 5, 2013. Political Unity, CNN. “Video: Low Voter Turnout Explained.” CNN RSS political ticker. Np, 6 February 2012. Web. 05 December 2013."Electoral protection • You have the right to vote." Election protection. Np, nd Web. 05 December 2013. "Hurricane Sandy: One Year Later | FEMA.gov." Hurricane Sandy: one year later | FEMA.gov. NP, Oct. 28, 2013. Web. Dec. 4, 2013. "FairVote.org | Voter Turnout." FairVote. Np, nd Web. 02 December. 2013. .