Some more left-wing political pundits are critical on the issue of millennials' recent lack of voting participation in the 2014 midterm elections. They claim that the extremely low rate of people under 30 (which is by no means unusual, as this trend pops up every now and again) had an effect on the majority-Republican House that the midterms resulted in. While there is no doubt that many millennials do have right-wing beliefs, there is also substantial evidence that younger voters are more likely to identify as Democratic in their first few votes.
As said before, though, younger voters have maintained their absence in major elections not withstanding the Presidential elections every four years. This has lead to some believing that millennial's poor participation in the 2014 midterms would not have affected the elections any more than it would have the past midterms as well. A multitude of factors play into young Americans withholding their voting powers, such as low approval rating of government, lack of time in juggling school or work, or general apathy.
Questions:
Would a higher percentage of young voters participating in the 2014 midterms have changed the outcome of the election?
Why do you think millennials aren't voting?
Do you believe young voters have little effect on politics?
1 comment:
I don't know if more young voters participating in the midterm elections would have changed the outcome, but if you look at the general voting pattern of young voters we saw in class last semester, it might have not made much of a difference.
I think the biggest reason why young people don't vote is because of time, especially for people in their early 20s. In your early 20s, you're probably working towards steady finances (paying for school, bills, or both), so you won't have as much time to think or care about voting.
About the last question, I think that depends on both the population of young voters and how much they can influence older voters. If the population of young voters is small, they will likely have not that much of an effect on politics, unless they vote similarly to the rest of the voting population. Young voters can also try to influence older voters into voting similarly to them, but that would be difficult to do, as the older generation seems to be firm in their general views.
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