vote with one's feet

present singular third person votes with one's feet · participle present voting with one's feet · participle past voted with one's feet · past voted with one's feet

1. idiomaticTo express one's preferences through one's actions, by voluntarily participating in or withdrawing from an activity, group, or process; especially, by physical migration to leave a situation one does not like, or to move to a situation one regards as more beneficial.

   Please, vote with your feet—participate in IAP.

   1991 December 10, “IAP needs you”, in The Tech

   5 more examples

   But Khrushchev's economic plan for the East Germans means a new kind of dependence on their old Russian foes, and its fulfillment is a political question—on which East Germans, whatever their phony 99.9% elections say, still vote with their feet by fleeing West at the rate of 2,000 a week.

   1958 December 8, "Most Useful Satellite", Time

   That would enable the students to "vote with their feet" for programs of proven excellence and presumably for fields where the most jobs are available.

   1973 April 2, “The Ph.D. Glut”, in Time

   TWA expects that its lounger will keep it flying high in transatlantic business, where it now leads all other airlines. Says Jesse Liebman, a TWA vice president: "Passengers vote with their feet."

   1985 May 13, "Business Notes Airlines", Time

   Then again, I knew that shareholder democracy meant only that I should vote with my feet if I didn't like what management was doing.

   2002, Jim Cramer, Confessions of a Street Addict, Simon and Schuster,, →ISBN, page 104

   The conventional wisdom ca. 1980 was that if an investor did not like the way a firm was managed, she could vote with her feet, moving her money elsewhere.

   2005, Diane E. Davis, Political Power and Social Theory, Elsevier,, →ISBN, page 188