When was the last time you voted? If you’re a person under the age of 29, the chances of your voting is only about 33% according to United States Elections Project. They keep data on every demographic, from age to race and ethnicity, every year from 1984 to 2018 to research how many people vote. This research development was to see how many people from the age of 18 to 60+ voted within the last electoral year.
Ask a young adult today if they voted and rarely will you hear a young person say that they have. There has to be a reason for this outcome. After asking around on various social media platforms to gather information on which peers added to the United States Elections Project statistics, it turns out that the majority of them met that stereotype. According to a personal online poll, 53% of young people said they did not vote this last year. Elders account for a majority of the population of the United States that vote for our next president. The younger generations do not get enough representation when it comes to who should we actually vote for! When it comes to voting, young adults and minorities are in the bottom 40%. That’s enough people to potentially help get someone in office who can help benefit people their age. If we pay attention, certain TV shows, internet websites, and social media platforms, target young people, so how come we can’t persuade our young adults to vote more?
Why aren’t we voting anymore? Granted, our last electoral voting year was probably deciding the lesser of two evils with Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton in office, but we see how that turned out anyway. By encouraging young adults to vote, it could possibly change the outcome of history as we know it! More research developed in 2016, when President Trump was elected for office, showed young adults under the age of 30 only made up 10% of that decision as a nation. In 2008, and again in 2012, when Barack Obama was elected and reelected as president of the United States, the African-American demographic for turnout rate spiked to an all-time high, around 70%. This drastic increase alone could have changed any election around if we all would go out and vote. It took the president of the United States of American to be black in order for our black community to step up and vote. Regardless of skin color, we should be voting because it is one of our rights as American citizens and we can impact the lives of not only ourselves but everyone in our nation.
The misconception that young adults don’t have a voice is becoming true because we are making it true! If we are not at least trying to get our voice out there somehow, what’s the point of even having the right to vote? We need to use our voices as the next generation of the future, so we can have a better future for everyone.
