Didn't the last US election have the largest turnout in the past century? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_elections

It did, the activists lost.

How so?

The number of people who perform some kind of activism is way lower than voter turnout. What makes you think there are lots of people who are doing "performative" activism that isn't translating into them voting or otherwise participating in the system?

> What makes you think there are lots of people who are doing "performative" activism that isn't translating into them voting

I don't think that. Activism isn't translating into non-activists voting, hence activism being performative.

Votes are weak if there is no one or nothing of substance to vote for.