COMMENTARY | In such a contentious time in our politics there are a myriad of views surrounding the upcoming elections and what the outcomes will be. More specifically, when talking about President Obama’s chances of getting re-elected many believe that the youth will have an important stake in the election and could possibly sway the results one way or another.
Candidates running for election, or re-election, always want to try and tap into the youth market in order to get more votes and get their message out. However, even through voting campaigns such as Rock the Vote, the reality is that a lot of young people don’t heavily engage in the political process.
This is why the 2008 election differed from many of the previous years because young people came out and voted in historic numbers. The 2008 election was the second highest turnout, the first being in 1972 when 18-year-olds were allowed to vote for the first time.
With the many protests that are happening all over the country, as well as in a host of other countries, many believe that this will be a positive thing for Obama and his re-election. However, one of the strong messages that protesters are trying to get across is that they are fed-up with the political process as a whole, not necessarily just the Republicans in power.
Many of the Occupy Wall Street Protesters don’t believe that voting is the most effective way to create change in our country. Therefore Obama may not see as much support from the youth with regards to voting as he did in 2008.
If Obama wants to win the next election he is going to have to try and excite young people through his various messages as he did in 2008. This is due to the fact that without their vote it is going to be even more of a tight and combative race then it’s already shaping up to be.