Should Teenagers Vote For President

In conclusion, young voters need to take an active role in government in order to continue one of the founding principles of our country which is that we are an democratically elected republic who is looking out for the interest of all of its people. The problem lies not within the older generation who have high turnout rates and are concerned with supporting issues relative to their stage in life. Instead, the burden lies upon the apathetic younger generation whose unique ideals, viewpoints, and experiences are being squandered because we are not voting. It is time for young Americans to step up to the plate.

The 26th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1971, giving eight-teen year olds the right to vote. Forty four years later the voting age still remains set at eight-teen but is it time for a change?

What would you think if I told you that being young in America is not the easiest thing in the world to be? The young adults in America go from having to ask permission to go to the bathroom and living with no responsibilities; to having to move out and begin an independent life filled with work, college, and hard choices that will determine the rest of their adult life. This brisk change happens in less than a year. That might be one of the major reasons that the American youth does not give that much value to the American Political Process, and do not fully understand the changes that they can provide just by simply voting. It is critical that the American Youth votes because those votes imply making decisions that can affect their future and they should be deciding their own future.

There are three possible solutions to the lack of active participation in politics and elections in youth, ages 18 to 25. The first solution is to pass House Bill 16-148 in Colorado which will require high school students to pass the civics portion of the federal citizenship test to graduate high school. The second solution is to lower the voting age to 16 years old. The third solution is to create a youth congress that deals with social issues that relate to the youth. The policy that our group decided would best increase participation in politics and elections in people ages 18 to 25 would be to lower the voting age to 16, because it develops the habit of voting at a younger age, it encourages schools and parents to provide the youth with a better understanding of the government and politics, it allows youth to have a voice in issues that involve them as well as encourage politicians to support policies that help the youth, and it has been proven to fix the issue of voter participation.

We hold these Truths to be self evident because we want our voices to be heard. Teens should be allowed to vote because their opinion would be heard in this country and should be shown through teen’s eyes. Many Teens will take these matters seriously and will like the idea that they are impacting our country in many different ways, including contributing and practicing their democratic

“Young people are interested in politics, and do have faith in the democratic process. Nonetheless, the political system and the established parties and politicians that dominate it, are together failing to

Recent studies have shown that voting rates amongst youths ages 18 to 24 have seen a decrease from 50.9 percent in 1964 to an all time low of 38.0 percent in 2012 (Young-Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964–2012, www.census.gov). The recent record breaking decline in political participation amongst young adults can be linked to the overwhelming media portrayals of government, political issues being aimed towards older citizens, and the lack of information on the importance of voting made available to lower education students. The constant slew of information

Another crucial argument in suggesting that apathy exists higher in youth voters tends to be that “young people have lower levels of political knowledge than do older age groups” and thus resulting in “comparatively weak commitments to political parties.” (Henn et al. p. 557.) In addition to the argument made above that young people are less likely to be part of any organization is primarily due to the idea that the level of understanding politic is relatively low at young age. No one in their right mind would ever place an incompetent person to make important decisions, and age furthermore adds to that prejudice. This is true, however, as youth do not and can not spend the time to study and experience politic due to them already being involved in an education life. Kaid,

To begin with, teenagers below eighteen are generally not interested in politics comparing to adults. According to the results of the British Household Panel Survey in 1991 and 2001, "16 and 17 – year- olds are especially unlikely to report interest in politics" (2006, P. 543), and ”the 16 and 17-year-olds of 1991 actually became much more interested in politics when they turned 26 and 27, respectively, in 2001" (2006, P. 543). From the empirical data, Chan and Clayton draw the conclusion that adolescents have not yet fully developed political interest until their later years. (2006, P. 544) With the lack of interest in politics, teenagers in Canada will hardly vote in any elections. This makes youth enfranchisement a complete waste of time, effort and money. In addition, as teenagers tend to

Voting has been a popular topic on my social media, specifically for young adult’s ages between 18 and 21. The discussions are mainly about whether or not voting is really something they should do. I’ve seen a few people comment saying that now that they are of age, they will vote. Sadly, most of the people like to just think about it as something “dumb”, “unnecessary”, and “waste of time”. I highly disagree. I like to think of it as people who just speak without thinking. The majority of those young adults like to share posts about politics and they always seem to state their opinion about how they do not like what a certain candidate running for office has said, or that they are not ok with what that candidate will do if they become president. I have also seen posts about how they think that them not voting won’t make a difference in voting percentage, but little do they know, they’re not the only ones with that

There are several reasons as to why I chose this topic, because the young voices of America matter now a days. Young adults don’t realize that we are the next generation for the United States. Throughout my survey I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of young adults that aren’t registered to vote but they have a political view whether it be Democrat, Republican, or a Liberal. But they don’t see the purpose of being registered to vote because they aren’t really informed on what is going on in the society because it isn’t interesting for them at the time but what they fail to come to realize is that when they began to retire at an older age they won’t have the same benefits as the older generation do today. During my Research I found a lot of adults here in Florida aren’t registered and if they are they aren’t voting.

What makes young adults decide not to vote in elections? One of the most common phrases that people hear throughout the U.S, especially during election time, is that young adults are the group with the lowest turn out in elections voting. Russel J. Dalton, author of “Bowling Alone or Protesting with a Group”, points out that the consistency of the number of young adults not voting has increased so much that they have become known as the invisible generation (Dalton 54). However, this name can be considered to have a double meaning, while older adults may consider millennials as the invisible generation because they are not participating in the election as they should, millennials may think of themselves as the invisible generation because

Generation Y often gets a bad rep. People say that we’re lazy, we’re self-involved, and we take too many selfies. Although when we focus on issues that actually matter, (i.e. the upcoming presidential election) we're told that we're "just kids" and shouldn't be involved in adult issues. But here's the thing- your decision affects us. It's preposterous for anyone to say that politics isn't relevant because political issues play a role in nearly every aspect of lives. The Millennials are the most educated and diverse of any previous generation. We have had sexual and gender roles challenged, the race debate has come back into the picture, and discussions over human

The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate.

When the founding fathers drafted the Constitution their main focus was creating a nation where everyone would be free from the restraints of a controlling government and treated equal. America has always been a nation of freedom, and needs to remain that way. The youth in this country is charged with the task of ensuring that America remains the “land of the free”. Without involvement in politics this is not possible. If youth are to maintain the American ideals of freedom and equality it is imperative that they be involved in politics. Voting every four years for the president, who is more of a figure head than anything else, is simply not enough. Young people need to take a more active role in politics such as running for a political office, local or national. This is the only way they will be able to put their beliefs into action and ensure that America upholds it’s long standing values of freedom and equality. The youth need to start taking action as soon as they are old enough. However, young people need to be educated on politics and be firm in their beliefs before delving into the world of politics. In recent years the youth have shown a trend of disengagement and apathy toward political involvement. According to “The Good Citizen”, a book written by Russell J. Dalton, political analysts and politicians agree that the youth are losing interest in politics and