BallotVox

Youth Vote — Part II

[Libby / Flickr]

Despite the attention that engaged young voters have been attracting in this presidential campaign, and despite what promises to be a comparatively high youth turnout, only about 50% of under-30s will vote in November. So although some are genuinely enthusiastic, plenty of teenagers and twenty-somethings are politically disengaged.

Nicholas Stevens, a sophomore at Northern Kentucky University who counts himself among the engaged, says this of his less eager peers (hat tip to Misa Dayson):

Many of my friends do not vote, do not watch political coverage and are overall disinterested in the entire political process. […]

[W]hen I see my peers who do not participate in voting I cannot help but to ask why. […] I have gotten an array of answers when trying to bring up the issue of politics with others, “I hate politics”, “I don’t care”, “All they do is lie anyway to you” and “The elections are rigged” are all answers I will commonly receive when asked why someone does not vote. […]

[T]here are two reasons in my mind, that can be possible explanations for why young people do not participate in the political process. Many will call us “apathetic.” Apathy simply means having little or no interest or concern. Talk to young people about issues and the great majority do care. They tend not to get hooked on these little arguments about non-issue disagreements such as a lapel pin, but they do care about more than just sex, drugs and alcohol… which many seem to think that is all we think about. Therefor, the description of my peers being apathetic to politics does not jive with my real life experiences. The other choice is that they feel ignored by either the policies and/or the politicians. Listen to most politicians and other than stating “college should be more affordable,” they have little to say to us.

Nicholas ends by asking his readers why they think so many young voters are apathetic. Sadly, the blogosphere doesn’t oblige him with answers; the comment thread veers off into matters of national security and questions about why Nicholas is a Republican.