By Danielle Moskowitz Staff Writer
Voter turnout in the United States has been significantly low in these past few elections, and the primaries get the worst turnout of all.
The younger generation is not as involved as they should be in making decisions based on the political future, even though they are the ones most impacted by the decisions the next administration makes. It’s we who will be looking for jobs and houses in the near future, not the older generation who seem to make up the largest portion of the voter pool.
Voting can be argued as being one of the most important civic duties given to the American people. It’s the source of democracy and many people lost their lives to give us the privilege to vote.
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement reported that in 2014 only 19.9 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old demographic came out to cast their ballots, the lowest youth turnout rate for a federal election ever recorded.
Why is voting turnout amongst the younger population so low?
I strongly believe that voting in the primaries is important.
I feel that it is hard for some students to vote in the primaries due to the stress from schoolwork. Also, although I go to a college in a different state than the one I am registered to vote in, which makes it harder for me to go home and cast my ballot vote, I strongly believe that voting, even in the primaries, is very important.
When asked if she will vote in the primaries, Hofstra University student Kimberly Klouda, age 20, said that she hasn’t registered yet to vote. “Plus, most people forget about the primaries,” she added.
Although many young people are unsure about when the primaries are, as a whole the 2016 election has been successful in reaching out to them.
Presidential candidates are using many social media platforms, to get their views across to our generation and encourage us to go out and vote in the primaries.
Hofstra University student, Serena Ruel, 20, supports candidates using social media to reach out to young adults. “Social media plays a huge role in the campaign and I think that some candidates definitely use social media better than others.”
However, candidates shouldn’t just expect that they only need to use social media to grab the younger generation’s interest. Dr. Carolyn Dudek, a political science professor, thinks that candidates need to focus on issues that revolve around the younger population to gain their interest and convince them to go out to vote. For instance, Bernie Sanders is able to speak to the younger population by focusing on issues like affordable education. President Obama did the same thing in 2008, which is why there was an increase in younger voters during that election. Dudek suggested for candidates to “give [young adults] an issue that captures their imagination.”
In order to increase voter turnout amongst 18- to 29-year-olds, candidates need to not only focus more on relevant issues and topics pertaining to them but also relating to us through social media. If the issues are right and the tweets amusing, I think we will be seeing a significant increase in coming out to cast their ballots.