Is the youth informed enough to vote?

On Nov. 8, millions of Americans will be running to the election booths in hope that their candidate will be victorious. Out of these millions, 46 million potential voters range from ages 18 to 29 compared to 39 million adults older than 29 years old. This signifies how important the young demographic is for candidates. Now, the question rises as to whether the young voters are knowledgeable enough to vote for the future president.

There is a grand stereotype that the youth are ignorant about politics. There is no proof to prove this statement, and some statistics show that the youth might even be more informed than older adults. High school students are required to take a class in government; this enlightens them on current politics.

In recent years, social media has been a tool for young people to be involved in politics, and this might help shape their opinion on some issues in a positive or negative manner. Civicyouth.org stated that majority of young voters are democratic. According to the national exit poll data, youths aged 18-29 preferred Democratic candidates by 55 percent to 42 percent. The suggested reason for this leaning is that the youth are always ready for change, which democratic candidates often speak about. President Obama utilized this as the focus for his campaign in 2008.

“Every generation should be knowledgeable to vote, so the burden falls on the voters to be informed. I believe you could make the same argument for younger voters and older voters that they are not as qualified as they should be, but it is our civic duty to be informed and vote,” said Mr. Lehigh, the civics teacher. ”

“If the topics are relevant, the younger voters will take the time to be informed. As you get older with more life experience, different topics have different value to you so you might want to be more informed or pay attention, but age does not guarantee wisdom. Age does not guarantee that you be informed either. The sooner you see relevance that you should be apart of the process and identifying the issues that have meaning to you, age does not matter,” Lehigh added.

According to students, there were a fair amount who were informed about politics, and others who were not. The informed students said that largely their parents introduced them to candidates and platforms while the ones who were not informed are taking the time to get knowledgeable and plan to be ready when election dates arrive.

–Evelyn Galtman