Youths Lacked a Voice in Midterm Elections

The voter turnout among youths aged from 18-29 is not as substantial as it should’ve been. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports, “roughly 20 percent of Americans under the age of 30 voted in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.”

However, youth voters dominated the 2008 presidential elections, and a difference was made. With 66% of youths voting for Democratic candidate Barack Obama, America welcomed its first interracial president. But why did youths choose to avoid the polls this past week?

According to the New York Times, “experts say the usual midterm effect, in which young voters are especially likely to disengage, has combined with an unexpected distance that has arisen between Mr. Obama and many young constituents.”

CBS reported that the youth vote was down to nine percent this year, opposed to 18 percent in the 2008 election and about 68 percent of the youth voters favor Democratic candidates. Some C.W. Post students believe that if there were more time or information, there could have been a diverse turnout. Sophomore Matt Virga said, “If more students voted, results could’ve been different,” and classmate Chris Pierce agrees, “it’s important to get involved because it’s our future.”

Yahoo news reports that, “the red wave of Republicans projected to win the midterm elections rose as predicted after the first polls closed on the East coast.” With the GOP representing the majority of the house, tables have turned in Washington.

According to http://www.politicsdaily.com, President Obama told a rally audience that if Republicans win, “they will spend the next two years fighting for the very same policies that led to this recession in the first place. We cannot sit this one out!”

It was clear that even C.W. Post students realized the importance of casting that ballot, but there was just not enough action to follow through with the notion. With that, sophomore Caitlin Kluko, gave one piece of advice to all college students, “If you didn’t vote, don’t complain about anything.”