What Makes The Youth Vote So Important

By Patrick Forrest on May 22, 2016

UKPDaily.com

President Barack Obama is going back to his “hope and change” voice of 2008 and looking to find ways to impress upon young Americans the importance of political engagement.

“My hope is, is that despite some of the unusual rhetoric that we’ve been hearing during this presidential campaign, that it’s young people like you who are going to restore that sense of us being able to work together and make this democracy function effectively,” Obama said.

That rhetoric is having an emotional effect this election cycle. Obama concluded that the poll results were the work of cynicism and said that while he sees that there are flaws in our system, the best way to fix it is to still get out and vote.

“Everybody is always trying to come up with these radical new plans to try to fix our democracy, and we need to do this and we need to do that,” Obama said. “The truth is, is that part of the reason why our government doesn’t work as well is because in a good presidential year, slightly more than half the people vote who are eligible, and the other half don’t.”

The president also challenged young people to become more active in the political process, because according to civicyouth.org, large young populations in traditional swing states such as Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania could make the difference on who is able to become the next president of the United States.

“If you care about climate change, you care about college costs, you care about career opportunities, you care about war and peace and refugees, you can’t just complain. You’ve got to vote,” Obama said. “And what’s interesting is, is young people as a voting bloc are the least likely to vote, but when you do vote, have the biggest impact on elections.”

And with the Pew Research Center now stating millennials are overtaking baby boomers for the largest generation, the president continues to attempt to communicate the importance of using the power of the vote.

“During a presidential year, young people account for like 19 percent of the total vote. During an off-year election, when folks aren’t paying as much attention, they account for 12 percent,” Obama said.

And that means that the kinds of candidates that get elected and the priorities that they reflect are entirely different, just based on whether or not you guys are going to the polls.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican, Democratic, Independent,” Obama said. “Whether you’re conservative on some issues, liberal on others, if you participate and you take the time to be informed about the issues, and you actually turn out and your peers turn out, you change the country.”

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