Hey, future President Trump or future President Clinton,
Many college students today are choosing not to vote. Are you aware of that? Do you care that we do not care?
I conducted a survey among my college-aged peers to see why we are not voting. Here are the three most common answers:
"My vote does not matter."
"I do not like either candidate."
"I do not care to register, and I do not want to take the time."
When you are lying on your deathbed one day, the generation who gave these answers will be running this country. We are the future.
How is it that the United States of America has moved backwards? We once lived in a day and age where a generation of college-aged teens fought on the front line in a war so we could have the freedom we do today; the freedom to vote. Years later, the same age group could care less about the election.
We are disengaged from politics. We dread political conversations, political debates, and avoid reading or watching anything related to politics. We walk away from a political conversation and change the channel or flip the page to anything but politics. Instead of counting down the days until we can go to the polls, we are apathetic and feel our voice does not matter.
Have you ever thought, if so many college students are uninterested in voting for the leadership of their future, there must be something wrong? What is going to change my generation’s mindset, so it does not become the new norm for the generations following?
So, future President Trump or future President Clinton: What can you say to me about why we should vote?
Remove yourself from the powerful position in which you stand... Imagine yourself as my friend that is sitting across from you in a coffee shop sipping on a warm pumpkin spice latte. Tell me, why should I vote?
Not who I should vote for. But, simply give me an unbiased reason why I should vote.
This might be the first step in getting young college aged men and women interested in voting. Find a connection with my peers and I that ignites something in us, so we want to vote. Find a connection that makes us care and a connection that makes us feel we do matter in this election!
We still may not like either candidate; however, maybe we will vote!
If you want to talk about why my college aged peers do not want to vote, please contact me at tiffanytheodyssey@gmail.com.
Let’s sit down and find the connection that will change the mindset of young college students to say:
My vote DOES matter, and I DO matter in this election.
