The Non Voting Millennial Essay

Since 1972, youth voter turnout has been on the decline. According to the Child Trends Databank, 50 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 participated in the 1972 presidential election (2015). Nearly three decades later, the percentage of young adults aged 18 to 24 who voted in the 2000 presidential election had dropped eighteen

Being able to cast my first vote in the 21st century is a privilege. My generation needs to accept their patriotic responsibility and vote because many reforms are needed in order to carry us into the new millennium. Voting reforms are necessary to inspire political participation for other modifications and adjustments needed in areas such as health care, education, and Social Security, all which we as young people will face in the future. Participation in elections is necessary to facilitate and enable progress, but our present day system of voting is expiring by frustrated Americans.

Political inactivity on the part of young Americans stems from one fundamental source -- a general cynicism of the American political process. This disdain for politics is further perpetuated by a lack of voter education and a needlessly archaic voting procedure that creates barriers to voting where they need not exist. While many of these existing problems can be rectified with relative ease through the implementation of programs such as Internet voting and better voter education, such programs create only a partial solution.

Baby Boomers are the most powerful demographic group in history. Businesses thrives or fails based on their ability to keep pace with the likes and dislikes of this economic powerhouse known as the baby boomers. At 76 million strong, boomers have the influence to rule the marketplace and make sure they keep a place set just for them as the

Voting is the chance to contribute to the political process, and the framework was made to work best when everybody partakes. Along these lines, utilizing your entitlement to vote is not only an expansion to the voter turnout insights distributed by each significant media site (which reliably demonstrate seniors as having the most astounding voter turnout - time for the young to lift it up). Your vote really matters and the country needs and needs to hear your feeling. We live in a vote based system (a term utilized delicately as a part of our general public). A democracy is a system of government in which the entirety of the population participates. So, participate all the time.

The newest generation, also known as the Millennials, has sparked one of the latest topics of debate and that is voting. Recent examples of young voters excelling political candidates have occurred with Bernie Sanders and even helped bring Barrack Obama into the presidency. These articles by The New York Times delve into the underlying cause of the low turnout rates. Most of these articles place the blame for low voter turnouts on colleges. Colleges are not to blame for these turnouts as they don’t discourage political thinking.

A big question we face in America is, why dont American citizens vote? We have this amazing oportunity and some don't use it! Some Americans don't exercise their right to vote even though others fought so hard for it! So lets go over some reasons why some people might not vote. Americans sometimes have a negative view of government, maybe they don't believe their vote counts, or generational changes. I can understand why citizens have a negitive view on government, its hard having a positive view when not everyone gets their way, well that's not how the world works. To address people who do not believe their vote count, thats their own problem. They should probably educate themselves. For the generation changes, they say that the younger generations

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.

Young voter turnout has historically been disproportionately lower than all other voting groups. In California alone, as indicated in the California Civic Engagement Project, conducted by UC Davis during the 2012

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 24 that have voted in presidential elections are steadily lower than any other age group (Johnston). What is it about the college age group that has lead to a decrease in their involvement of elections? For Orange is the New Black actress Natasha Lyonne, 37 years old, she is drawn to the polls because of the issue of prison reform (Johnston). This is only one of many examples of the older generation having a personal connection to an issue that drives them to research candidates, fill out the registration forms, and vote. It is because of the college students’ lack of a connection to the issues addressed in elections that has led to low voting rates. To resolve this predicament, a class should be institutionalized at all colleges. For example, there is a class called GOA currently at Xavier University and it is mandatory for all first-year students. It informs students about topics that are not taught in school.

It seems as though the younger population of voters have all grown up in a world where they have been influenced to believe that their one vote will not make a difference, and therefore they do not bother to take the time out of their busy schedules to cast their meaningless vote. In the last presidential election, only one out of four citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four casted their vote (“Is the System broken?”). The opinion that one vote will not make a difference appears to be directly respondent to the younger generation of voters. This generation needs to be educated on the difference that one vote can make.

During the Great Depression and World War II many Americans delayed marrying and having children because of the poor economy. The number of marriages and births soared after the war. Many older couples who had delayed having children began having them when the war ended. This increase in births among both younger and older American couples created the Baby Boom Generation. This large group of people born in the U.S. from 1946 to 1964 amounted to 76 million children. Those born during this time make up approximately 36% of today’s population (Deutsch). What impact has this had on the economy? Read on to see how the baby boom generation has affected the economy and what will happen as they retire.

Why vote? This is a major question among many young Americans today. America's youth, does not take the time to read articles, observe the news, or pay attention to presidential debates and campaigns due to their busy schedules. This creates two problems. First, young voters have little knowledge of current issues in the election. Also as a result, they are unaware of the importance of voting. Each presidential election stirs up an old controversy of whether to vote or not to vote. There are many young people who think that voting is not important; I believe that it is. By voting you are exercising your right as an American to voice your opinion, and young Americans need to become aware of this.

The 2016 Presidential election was my first election that I could vote in, and take interest in. Throughout school I participated in mock elections, taken numerous history classes where I have heard “voting is your civil duty.” As I turned 18 I looked forward to registering to vote because I was now able to perform this civil duty that everyone talks about and celebrates. However, voting really wasn’t as exciting as it was made out to be. I grew up believing that my one vote would make a huge difference, although I later learned that statistically that is not the case. What motivates me to vote is the people who I surround myself with. My friends and family take a large interest in politics, as around election time it is the constant conversational

1. Only 21 percent of the voting eligible population in 2014 were young adults ages 18-29 (“why student voters matter”, 2016).