Will Young America Vote This Time Around?

It's hard to say but every presidential election we speculate that America's youth will gain the will power and head to the election polls. However, each year America speculates, and the youth just doesn't turn out. The anticipated youth turnout for the 2004 presidential elections proved not to be what it was made out to be. The 18-25 year old bracket only experienced an increase of 11% according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Even though it was the biggest growth compared to other age brackets, it still wasn't enough to be considered significant. Only about 47% of the youth actually voted despite huge efforts made to get the youth out and vote. Efforts such as the popular Rock the Vote campaign, founded in 1990 by members of the recording industry, took huge strides to encourage young America to vote. Recording artist and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs hosted MTV's TRL and held a huge media campaign to try and get the youth to participate in the 2004 election. He used slogans such as "Vote or Die" and made voting seem glamorous in a society where youth only accepts "sexy." However since efforts to make politics seem sexy did not work in the past election, will America even try to get the youth to turn out this election? It seems like America may have just given up our teens. Maybe we assume that they just don't care who becomes president because there is no present circumstance that encourages us to vote.

For example in 1971 the 26th amendment was passed that gave America's 18 years olds the right to vote. The idea was that if 18 year olds were old enough to go to war, then they were old enough to vote. Of course now for most young people it seems ludicrous that Americans would be sent out to war but have absolutely no say in policy or decision over what they were fighting for in the first place. Yes, we all seem to get that idea, but young Americans don't seem to have that problem today. There is simply no incentive for youth to go out and vote because they are not being sent off into war without a say in government. We have the right to vote today, so what else is there to fight for anymore? This seems like the train of thought that goes through most 18 year olds as of now. Most teens don't have to deal with issues such as health insurance, taxes, or recession because they are under the care of their parents who take care of these situations. Not to say that these are the only circumstances,however, most young people aren't exposed to these kinds of circumstances until they are much older. So in order for them to vote there has to be some kind of incentive or pay back for them.

One incentive that might be able to get the youth to vote is the war in Iraq. War seemed to get political youth action in the 60's and 70's so why not this war? Recently America has experienced an overwhelming trend to break free from the war in Iraq. Also new Democratic candidate Barack Obama has stated that he is opposed to the war in Iraq. He also has proposed a plan to get soldiers out of Iraq as soon as possible. Did I mention that this candidate was a new name to American households, African American, and young? Yes, Obama is only 46 years old. Despite the criticism he receives about being too young to assume office and not being experienced enough, this could possibly be an incentive for youth to vote. Maybe young America can't relate to old white guys any longer. This surge of new types of candidates such as Hillary and Barack just might be able to spark a new kind of interest in politics. Obama is known for having enormous crowds of people showing up to his conventions in search of a new hope and change. Turn outs such as these could inspire young Americans to get out and vote just because of the pure excitement for this particular race. Also young woman might find interest in a woman president, something America has never seen before. In particular, it might not be so much of policy and reform that young America is concerned about, but it could be a new face that intrigues our youth to vote.

As vain as that seems, it is the truth. Young America is driven by what they see through the media. Music, television, and theater create the trends for today's youth. In a society where we force feed our children stereotypes, values, and phony ideals through media, it is hard to make politics seem interesting. Television also seems to be doing a horrible job at informing us of policy. Instead they keep us up to date on sex scandals, and the personal profiles of political leaders. Does young America care who will be increasing government spending? Probably not. Will the media keep on reporting scandal and other things that have nothing to do with actually policy in government? Most likely. Until this cycle of focusing on the personal rather than the political action ends, then maybe today's youth won't be so ill informed when in comes to voting.