First published on LWVCGA.com
“So why didn’t you vote?” I ask my friend, the morning after the election.
“I didn’t like either candidate,” she says.
“But you said you would vote no matter what,” I say.
She shrugs, indicating that her answer is final; a self-evident condemnation of the choices. But is it really?
Apathy is one of the biggest obstructions to the youth vote, according to Martin P. Wattenberg, author of Is Voting For Young People? (originally published in 2007 and last updated in 2016). Wattenberg is a political scientist at the University of California and has written several books on U.S. politics
When I first read his book, I viewed it as an academic text and had to write academically about it. Unfortunately, I let my feelings get involved, to the point that the analysis I promised was more of a knee-jerk reaction. After reading how much young people have disengaged from the vote, I wanted to give the author’s arguments careful consideration instead of rebutting them
In the book, Wattenberg explains that the youth vote has decreased dramatically since the mid-70s. A slide from flower power to deep apathy.
It is a tragedy of sorts.
“A generation who is relatively unlikely to see voting as an important civic responsibility is one who may well have many of its members lost as voters,” writes Wattenberg.
More Info, Please
“I’m voting,” says another friend. “I don’t want the other one to win.”
This mindset is more common than you may think. Voting for candidates according to a preferred party means they’ll be more likely to pick policies that meet your approval. This is an antidote to the second big problem that Wattenberg talks about: being informed.
According to his findings, young people don’t follow the news cycle—I believe this may be fatigue in response to 24/7 coverage—so we are less focused on a candidate’s policies than their popularity and their sound bites. This is more than not watching the news: It’s the absence of context for the issues of the day.
My experience has shown that young people are addressing this issue more every day since many now watch or read the news, even those that didn’t vote in the past election. I can’t speak to the quality of the information because news from a trusted source should be more carefully considered than what’s found on social media. But here, I do see improvement.
On Mandatory Voting
Addressing the chasm between generations of voters—baby-boomers and younger people—Wattenberg also brings up some solutions that may help the U.S. match the involvement seen in other developed democracies.
One idea is to make voting mandatory. That means that all adults that can vote are required to by the state or risk incurring a fine.
Another idea is to make the process easier, with automatic registration, more information, and more involvement. Some even suggest letting 16-year-olds vote so they get used to the process from a younger age.
The Ignored Demographic
This leads us to the last issue that faces young voters: Neglect. Political campaigns usually target people that are most likely to vote, i.e. older voters. Thus, they address issues of healthcare, work and retirement.
Political campaigns do have their reasons. Why try to connect with people that don’t vote? Ads cost money and time in a candidate’s busy campaign. Being neglected by candidates means that young people don’t feel that their vote matters, which makes them less likely to vote. This is an intensified issue in local elections, where few people vote in the first place.
Who knows, maybe a campaign that really bets on young people and local citizens could turn the tables in the future. For now, an effective way of involving young people is to help them find issues that they feel passionate about and letting them know that their vote matters.
David Ceron Giraldo served as an intern for the League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia and currently is a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. For a long time, he’s been intensely focused on social and political issues, leading to his application to the League. He works holistically on projects across media, making use of writing, design and video to tell big stories in short form.
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