College Students and Voting

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Nov 2, 2006

I try not to get too preachy, but here's some strong advice to students: vote! vote! vote! For my U.S. readers: now that your college midterms are over, it's time to think more about this important midterm election. This may be the most important U.S. election in years. Senate and House races across the country are extremely close (and nasty), and this election may or may not result in both houses of Congress shifting to the Democrats and George W. Bush losing quite a bit of influence. With everything that's going on--North Korea, the War in Iraq, terrorism--the party in charge is going to make a huge difference.

Along with the fact that this is an important midterm election, there's another reason college students and other young people need to vote. The Generation Y demographic (people born roughly between 1977 and 1997) are considered by many to be apathetic, self-centered, and not the least bit concerned about what's going on. Do you want to prove this stereotype wrong? Then vote.

Another good reason to vote: politicians don't focus on issues that impact young people because so few young people vote. Advertisers love the Generation Y demographic and spend a ton of money and energy trying to get you to buy stuff. Politicians, however, don't pay much attention to you at all. In other words, the powers that be think of young people as important consumers and not as important citizens. Wouldn't you like to change that?

Things have changed so much since my mother went to college in the 1960s during the Vietnam War era. In 1964, when my mother was a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, many students were uncertain of how they felt about the war. Most of their fathers had fought in World War II, so they had been raised to support the government and the military, but many also had doubts about this particular conflict. To address student concerns, the university held a sit-in in a huge auditorium. Pro-war and anti-war experts spoke for hours, and the students just listened so they could make up their own minds. Even though this was in the middle of midterm exams, thousands of stuents flooded the auditorium because they felt it was important to be informed.

In my experience, Generation Y students are not apathetic. In fact, since 9/11 and the beginning of the War in Iraq, I've seen students become more and more interested and concerned about current events. However, I do think many Generation Y students feel hopeless, like nothing they do can make a difference. This is how students of today differ from students in 1964, and that's a shame.

So I'll get off my soapbox now. I'll be voting on Tuesday, and I hope you will be too.