Millennials Do Make A Difference

Don't expect young millennials to turn out for voting in November. The percentage of young Americans saying that they would definitely vote in November dropped from 34 percent to 23 percent in just a few months according to the Harvard University Institute of Politics. But, why aren’t young American millennials showing up to the voting polls to cast their vote?

There are many reasons why these 18-29 year olds don’t decide to vote. But, one of the biggest reasons why is that they think they can’t make a difference. These millennials do still care about their country, but they are more involved in things within their own communities, because that is where they think that they can “actually” make a difference. All these millennials want is to feel like they are involved and actually contribute to making America a better country and the way to do that is to see more action taken by D.C. But, young millennials believe that the government will not listen and take action to their problems such as student debt, the economy, and producing more jobs. So, how can these elected officials find a way to make these young Americans empowered to participate in voting? First off they need to be able to convince these millennials to trust their government and what it stands for.

There was a recent study at Harvard University Institute of Politics that took a poll on younger millennial students to see what they had to say about the government. The results of the 18 and 29 year old responses showed that there was less interest and less trust in the government in almost every institution that took apart in this poll. Even the trust in the military dropped significantly low to the point that in the first time in poll history it lost the majority level of trust. So, what did these millennials think of politicians? Their answers were that they are selfish, don’t share the same priorities as they do, and that they don’t really generate a huge benefit. So, with this image of how millennials think politicians are, how should they go about to get them engaged to vote? Governor Deval Patrick found a way to make these young millennials to feel empowered to vote by listening to their policy ideas. This is how he was able to do it: "he asked them to get up off the couch and organize or to work in other ways than the government in the community." That was his campaign model which helped inspire how President Obama ran his campaign and many other politicians. Governor Deval Patrick is quoted saying that "Every single elected official in America could be doing the same thing, and I guarantee you, you would have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of young people heeding that call and going to work to make their community — and, ultimately, the government — better."

Patrick’s strategy was to be one with young millennials, and actually listen to their thoughts and ideas which empowered them to go out and vote.  Right there is the solution! But, why focus on a bunch of young people that don’t really care? Because, the Millennials make up 25% of the American population! We can be the deciding factor during the 2014 midterm elections, but we fail to realize how significant our votes can be. Others have already recognized the weight of our votes in the upcoming midterm. A Project New America article, POLL: Millennials will Decide 2014 Elections… If They Vote, assesses, “if progressives have any hope of stopping conservatives in 2014, they must engage, inspire, and turn out more Millennial voters.” Studies consistently show that our generation is an idealistic generation and that we are motivated and determined to make a positive change. We can begin by changing Congress to reflect the people they represent. We can make a change; all we need to do now is vote.

Citations

Margossian, Maral. "The Daily Collegian." The Daily Collegian RSS. Accessed September 18, 2014.

Edwards-Levy, Ariel. "Poll Finds Young Americans Not Excited About November Election." The Huffington Post. April 29, 2014. Accessed September 19, 2014.