Sol Rapoport
The race for the White House is more than a year a year and a half away, but contenders are already off and running.
Candidates seem to be everywhere-proposing legislation in the House and Senate, releasing daily statements about their opinions on pretty much everything, even making visits to states with big influence in the primaries like California. The candidates are numerous and vary ideologically to differing degrees.
But they all have one thing in common-they’re coming after you.
The impact of the youth vote in national elections has been huge since 1972, when 18-year-olds could vote for the first time in a presidential election. According to an article in USA Today, that year turnout among young voters set an all-time record with 52.1 percent.
Approximately 10 million votes were cast by 18-to 29-year-olds in the midterm elections last year, and political campaigns and organizations are starting to view the support of younger voters as an essential element of success at the voting booth.
In a vast contradiction, however, the younger generation often gets saddled with the “apathetic” label. And to a certain extent, it’s true.
Not enough people get to the polls on Election Day, not enough people educate themselves about the issues, not enough people involve themselves in the political process. But that hardly means that all of Generation Y is uncaring.
On the contrary, as young people begin to realize that the issues facing our current society involve them in direct and significant ways, they are responding in much larger numbers.
According to Rock the Vote, a non-profit political advocacy organization aimed at increasing youth voter turnout, “The 2006 turnout increase follows on the unprecedented 2004 youth turnout and provides further evidence that the new generation coming of age today is more engaged than young voters in recent decades.”
Not only are young voters more engaged, they’re also more important. When the Democratic Party took over both the House and the Senate in November of last year, young people showed their political clout. CNN’s national exit polls showed that “young voters favored Democrats by a 22-point margin, nearly three times the margin that Democrats earned in other age groups.”
Because young voters increased their turnout and favored Democrats by large margins, they played a major role in the Democratic victory.
Translation: The people you liked, the people you voted for, got elected.
Since Democrats depended heavily on young voters for their win, Republicans now have a strong incentive to win them back for 2008. And Rock the Vote notes that past data shows that when a person votes with one party for three consecutive elections, that person stays with the party for life.
So, if Democrats win the youth vote again in 2008, there are going to be some serious long-term political effects as the age group becomes a bigger part of the voting public.
All of this translates into one thing-your vote matters in a big way. Not just for yourself, although that should be reason enough to make it to the polling booth, but increasingly also for the generations to come.
Concerned about global warming and what it will mean for the country’s environmental future? Find out which candidates support the Kyoto Protocol.
Worried the economic outlook, and consequently your job prospects, is looking bleak? Look into how each candidate is planning to strengthen the American economy in the coming years.
Troubled by the billions of dollars being spent in Iraq and the accompanying massive American and Iraqi casualties?
Search for the candidates who support a reduction or withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Alarmed that women’s reproductive rights are being jeopardized and that Roe v. Wade will be overturned? Look up how the candidates voted on past abortion issues.
Whatever it is that inspires you to get involved, find it. Arm yourself with information about all the candidates and follow their progress along the way.
Know that your vote is going to count and that you have a responsibility to do it justice.
Do your research, register early and find your polling place. And then vote.
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