Youth and politics seem to have an underlying dislike for one another. A gap in political education and its importance, among other things, may be to blame.
For the upcoming November election, young voters seem uninterested or disengaged with politics and presidential candidates as a whole. This year 58 percent of registered voters 18-29 say they will definitely vote in the upcoming election, according to The Livingston Daily, a newspaper in Michigan.
That’s a vast drop in 78 percent from 2008.
In some part, it’s because of a dislike of the candidates.
In 2008, then Sen. Barack Obama was surged into presidency by the young voting population.
Yes, we actually matter and swayed the vote.
“An average estimation of 22 million people under the age of 30 showed up to the polls the third highest in the nation’s history,” states Nicole Greenstein of Time magazine.
Either way bridging the voting gap is something we as a young populous need to work on. Political campaigns are hitting the youth hard with targeting and campus visits in hopes of getting us to the polls.
Surveys show the economy and lack of jobs are what 18-29 year olds main concerns for the nation. In Stockton and on campus there is no doubting the crime rate has risen. Stockton’s homicide rate and the ever-rising unemployment rate has risen to 15.1% being 45,000 of our population, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Being one of the most impacted groups during this economic downfall should spark an interest in young registered voters to make a move for change.
We shouldn’t need non-profits, activists, celebrities or candidates to tell us to care about voting.
We need to care enough as a young nation about our futures and where we are headed in the said “road to recovery.”
“Why bother? One vote isn’t going to make a difference,” said Chris Rivera, a Delta College student.
This seemed to be a general answer in my quest to find “young voting-voters” on Delta campus. Having an opinion and outlook on political issues as a young American needs to be more important to us.
The Rock the Vote foundation embraces this concept, and is trying to rally the young to the polls. The organization is attempting to reach out and streamline the voting process to be more appealing to our generation in different ways.
“Our goal is not to tell people what to do, but to give people the tools to make up their mind,” said Heather Smith, the group’s president in an interview with Time magazine.
Many of us gripe about how hard it is to find a job, high college costs, gas prices, even healthcare concerns, but what are we willing to do about it? The possibility for change could be in one vote.
