What is a swing state?

Definition: it is a state in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support in securing that state's electoral college votes.

Facts:

-The creation of swing states happened when the winner-take-all system was put in place.

-Presidential candidates focus on swing states during the campaign trails; gaining these states allows for more electoral votes thus a greater chance of winning the election.

-There are 11 swing states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Florida contains approximately 4.4 million registered Republicans, about 4.6 million Democrats, and nearly 3 million independents; which allows this state to be considered as a swing state. Looking back at previous elections, Florida can either make or break a candidates shot of winning the presidency and all candidates have known this; however, times are changing. A majority of these swing voters are of the Hispanic diversity and hold ideals such as achieving the American dream. Also while doing research for this topic I have read that the days of older retirees only residing in Florida are gone and more recently a younger crowd has become growing in population. Therefore ideals and views are changing in this youth population, where now views may be more concerned with jobs and the environment rather than Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.

Reading this I realized that I, being a college student registered to vote, hold a lot of power in this election and so do all my peers. Our ideals and political views could bring about change and be the majority in this state and other states across the country. But, looking at the last election, on average young people are only 19% out of 21% of the young voting population actually going to the polls. Which to me could be much better. However it has been increasing; if you look back at the 2004 election, when Kerry was defeated by President George W. Bush, only 17% of America's youth voted. The reason behind this is that it seems that there has been a lack of enthusiasm for college students and the youth population to register to vote and then get to the polls on Election Day.

I believe that this should change, however, especially for this year's presidential election. Be if you're in a swing state or a safe state you should vote. Although I still have no idea who I will be voting for (and to be honest I probably won't know till I step into that booth) I do know that it is important for me to participate because the young population of the U.S. can carry so much weight. And I feel that especially in Florida, which is where I go to school, it can be even more radical. Being in a swing state, having an increasing majority of young demographics, and being a major election-deciding state, I hope and shout out to all my peers and friends to go and vote this election day because we just might be the state to pick the new president.