# vote with one's feet

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/vote-with-ones-feet
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To 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.

## Examples

- Customers are voting with their feet by shopping at cheaper stores.
- When the company lowered the quality of its service, many loyal clients began to vote with their feet and switched to competitors.
- Disillusioned by the restrictive policies of the city, thousands of residents voted with their feet, relocating to neighboring regions that offered greater personal and economic freedom.

## Origin

Probably based on the practice of pedibus in sententiam ire in the Roman Senate, but the phrase in its modern sense was popularized by Lenin, through whom it gained some currency in left-wing parlance in various languages. It became more widely known when Western journalists and politicians started using it, not without mockery, in reference to those individuals who fled Communist East Germany towards the West between 1945 and the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961. (disputed)

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.