silent majority

noun

Etymology: Popularized in contemporary usage by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a speech on November 3, 1969. The older sense for "the dead" was used in English since the 19th century, and further back in Latin by the Roman writer Petronius, who wrote abiit ad plures (“he has gone to the majority”) to describe the dead.

1. The largest portion of a demographic group or of the population of a political jurisdiction, which is considered to possess political and social views that are not openly declared, but that can nevertheless significantly affect voting patterns and social behavior.

   “Nixon took the field against his critics in his Nov. 3 plea to "the silent majority'" for backing of his Viet Nam policy.”

   “As for leadership, she applauds New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, whose stern law and order policies have won over the "black silent majority," she says.”

2. Those who are dead.

   “Each man in the long line knows that if an advance is made some of them will not see the sun set, and he cannot shake off the feeling that perhaps his turn has come to join the silent majority.”

   “How the mind strives to recollect the true form and features of those old folk who departed from us to join the silent majority before they were plainly photographed upon our childish memories.”