Why don't more young people vote?

Question

Last time I was at the polls, I ws the youngest person there by about 25 years. That is terrible.

Answer 1

It seems you are right, I am 44 and I was one of the youngest at the polls, too. I guess young America does not care. I hope that changes for the better. Great question, by the way.

Answer 2

Today's older people were born and lived in a time when people trusted the government systems and felt it was their civic duty to vote. Therefore, people over the age of 60 have a high voting record. People born during the Baby Boom experienced the race riots, Vietnam War protests, and Watergate. They over-reacted to these experiences by becoming disenchanted and disenfranchised. They then became self-absorbed and felt that they had no civic duty, only a duty to themselves and their own pleasures. The baby boomers passed this feeling onto their children. The average person under the age of 50 does not vote. They are caught up in their all consuming careers as well as titillating conspiracy theories of the late 20th century. This gives them much more personal pleasure than the boring act of reading about and listening to candidates, and the exertion of going to the poles to choose one of them on election day. After all, it's much more fun to read or watch programs about how bad the US is than to actually present yourself as part of the solution. Ironically, more people vote in national elections than in state or municipal elections. But it's on a local level where one vote can really make a difference.

Bottom line, most people under 60 who do not vote will protest that they do not vote because they are not political, they are above that sort of thing, their vote doesn't matter, etc. What they really are is lazy, self-centered and often educated beyond the ability to think on the human plane of existence. Many are "Acadamia Nuts."

Answer 3

America has one the lowest voter turn outs in the WORLD
why?
many reason.
These are some of the reason people in general ....not just young.... don't vote in america

1) Lack of options...some americans feel that they're only allowed to vote between twiddle dee and twiddle dumb. Most countries have at least 3 major parties and america only really has 2

2) Voting is made hard for americans. Voting day isn't even declared a holiday!! in most countries people have that day off.
In other countries like India people have a whole week to vote.
In america people have to squeeze in voting between school, work , and any other plans they may have that day.

3) apathy....There's a very large number of people who simply don't think their vote matters. They feel like whatever they do things will pretty much be the same. The young, the poor and disenfranchised often feel this way.

4) young people don't feel they have alot in stake in the elections. They aren't business owners, they probably don't care about medical insurance as much as old people, they don't care much for tax cuts, ...point is there aren't many issues in the elections which really catch their interest.

Answer 4

Because life is short man! Power to the people!

Statistics show that the younger the voter, the more likely he/she will be nursing a hangover on election day. Also the younger voters are more likely to listen to the hype of votes don't count. And lastly, your younger voters just don't care, life happens and their is nothing you can do about it.

It isn't untill 30 or so that people start figuring out who is in government determines how your retirement grows. How your taxes are divied out and how that equates into how you save for the future. This is the age when you start forming your oppinion on how things should be and start really voting that way.

Really, on the young people turn out it is mainly to get the young people to vote. Most of them vote on trends and not really on issues that effect them. This is why you can see huge variations between primaries and actual elections, most of your older crowd do not vote in primaries.

Answer 5

Did you go before 2pm? There's no way we're conscious enough to drive to a poll before mid-afternoon.

It's a well known fact that younger citizens have a poor turnout record, but many do vote. I have to send in absentee ballots, as I don't live in my official place of residence any more. I think many young adults are just too lazy to get up and vote

Answer 6

I'm 52, and I don't vote either. In Canada there really isn't any difference between any of the political parties (none that matter, anyway). The only thing that changes is that we get a different bunch of thieves.

Answer 7

Because all elections are rigged anyways. Look at the 2000 presidental election Gore won but look who got in. Bush won cus of back room politics...Soo there is no real reason to vote. Are voices are never heard because of the corruption in the government and the elctions are rigger anyways.

Answer 8

Because they are completely aware that the vote counting is rigged in favour of the incumbent fascists. Why vote when you know it will not register.

Of course the additional problem is, why vote when your choice is between idiot A, or idiot B

Answer 9

I had a friend (note that this is past-tense) who told me that she didn't care enough to even pay attention to the local news, let alone the state or national news. She chose not to vote 'cause she thought none of it impacted her. My guess is that, now that she has a mortgage and kids, she has realized how important it is.

Answer 10

f you watch only one conspiracy documentary ever, make it this one. This just might be the best introductory video out there. Understand that every claim made in this is fact, not opinion, no matter how wild it sounds. It's all easily verifiable through mainstream news archives and public documents.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7048572757566726569&q=Alex+Jones