I’m disappointed. Young people truly missed out in this
year’s presidential election. Merely 9 percent of all
eligible youth (18-24 years) showed up at the polls, a disturbingly
low ““ and rather angering ““ number.
This low number is even more frustrating once you realize that
same percent of eligible youth voted in the 2000 election as well.
Clearly, little to no progress has been made. After all the
televised hype and the “inspirational” voter campaigns
we’ve witnessed this year (Rock The Vote, Vote or Die and
more), the vast majority of young people still didn’t vote
and still didn’t care.
This year the elections were made a spectacle. Advertised as
“The Most Important Presidential Election” of all U.S.
history, it was assumed that citizens would care deeply. Young
people in particular were expected to show up at the polls in
record numbers. While the raw number of youth votes was higher this
election, the percent of the voting electorate they make up
didn’t budge.
As CBS News reported on Sept. 21, three in four Americans under
the age of 30 were registered to vote. And about 80 percent of
those registered planned to vote. Three-fourths of all polled youth
believed that this election would be one of the most important
elections of their lifetime.
Naturally, I felt excited. Very excited. For so long, young
people have been viewed as apathetic, uninformed and powerless.
Polls suggest the same: It has been reported that young people are
three times less likely than adults to understand the issues at
hand.
So, on Tuesday morning I cast my ballot with a genuine sense of
hope and pride. It was a great pleasure to see so many young people
““ despite midterm pressures ““ line up for hours just to
vote. Maybe young people really did care, I thought.
I was sadly mistaken. “If ignorance is bliss,”
remarked “Crossfire” co-host Paul Begala about a year
ago, “then young voters are the happiest folks in
America.”
Begala wasn’t too far off. Young people failed these
elections. And it was older Americans who, as usual, boasted the
highest turnout rates. This pattern is an old and unfortunate one.
Since 1972 ““ the year that 18-year-olds were first granted
the right to vote ““ the number of young voters has
declined.
In the 1972 election, approximately 50 percent of young people
voted. Now look at what we’ve come to.
The question I keep asking myself is, “Why?” The
plain truth is that many of us feel estranged by the politics of
today. Much of what we see on television and read about in the
papers fails to connect with us. Politicians seem deceptive.
Political parties appear didactic.
Conventions and speeches focus on issues affecting older
Americans ““ not young people.
Of course, there are other reasons for low turnout rates. Some
people miss their registration deadline, forget to vote or
misunderstand absentee regulations. Logistical concerns are real
ones. But overall, a lot of young people just don’t care.
Real efforts have been made to try to increase youth voting. In
1990, for instance, MTV officially launched Rock The Vote, a
nonprofit and nonpartisan organization encouraging typically
disenchanted youth to hit the polls and finally vote. But did Rock
The Vote work?
It was creative, at least. Rock The Vote infused political
messages with rock and hip-hop acts of the MTV generation. The
organization’s first campaign, “Censorship is
UnAmerican,” managed to air public-service announcements by
Iggy Pop, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Woody Harrelson. For the
first time in their lives, some youth finally found politics
interesting.
But Rock The Vote didn’t completely work. As showcased by
Tuesday’s events, young people still don’t care. And
Rock The Vote can’t change that right now, no matter what
Iggy Pop has to say or Chuck D so passionately urges.
We’re still not making it to the polls on Election Day.
And we’re still wondering what politicians will do for us.
MTV has helped, but it hasn’t succeeded.
It’s a real shame that we’re so politically
isolated. And I do wish more of us would care. We messed up ““
big time. We managed to show America, yet again, that politicians
can easily ignore us, and we won’t say a thing.
But we do care about our country. I certainly know we care about
our education, jobs, heath care and future. We do want better
lives. So, in that case, please do everybody a favor ““ vote
next time if you didn’t this past Tuesday. Take some time out
of your day to make an important decision ““ the decision made
this election will affect you even if it didn’t include
you.
Fried is a second-year history student. E-mail her at
ifried@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.