Outlook Press - Rock the Vote for....Umm...Who’s Running Again?

November 2, 2010

Rock the Vote for . . . . Umm . . . Who’s Running Again?

By: Erin O’Brien

 

Outlook Press

 

 

It’s a tragedy for a country that prides itself on being the “protectors of democracy around the world” when we have raised a generation of the most uninformed citizens, in the most informed time in history.  The only possible cause for this alarming realization is a growing disinterest by our nation’s youth in the issues that affect us the most. 

Many newly eligible voters have bought into the philosophy that they only receive one vote and that vote will not affect anything.  It is because of this theory that only about 50% of eligible Americans vote during presidential elections, that number growing to 56.8% in 2008, which is a record high, mostly due to a vast influx of new voters that year and about 35% of eligible Americans vote during mid-term elections, a number that decreases each year. 

The 2008 exit poll interviews revealed some even more terrifying statistics.  3% of voters did not know who they voted for, only which party.  15% of voters voted solely based on party, but do know candidates’ names.  12% of voters voted for Obama “because he’s black”, and half didn’t get his name right.   9% of voters didn’t know McCain’s name and simply referred to him as “the old guy.”

These people, especially the younger voters, spend the vast majority of every year whining and complaining to anyone who will listen about all the problems they believe the government has and what they should do about it, and many of them don’t even know which candidate will support the types of changes they believe in. 

They don’t understand that this one day in November is the one and only time of year that they get a say in what their politicians do and sometimes an election can come down to one or two percent.  If people decide to vote for a candidate without knowing what they stand for, said candidate can win, but also be accompanied with a large amount of voter regret afterward. 

After the 2008 presidential election, many people voted for Obama hoping that he would change Washington and were sorely disappointed to learn that his advisors, the ones that got him elected, had been D.C. insiders and many of them cabinet members for other presidents.  These mistaken voters quickly realized that they would only get the same system they had with everyone before he was in office. 

In an era that is constantly referred to as the “information age”, we seem to find it more and more difficult to be “in the know” about things that are so vital to the continuing stability and success of this nation.  Many channels, such as CNN, MSNBC, and FOXNEWS, run 24 hour news shows that should be able to keep those of us who don’t have access to the internet, newspapers, magazines, or the ability to turn on basic news shows, which air several times a day, every day, well informed.