In the 2008 Presidential Election young voters showed the world that they had a voice in politics and they wanted to be heard. Obama targeted voters ranging from the age of 18-29, the millennial generation. They registered to vote and they showed up at the polls ready to be a part of history. History is exactly what took place on that day. Barack Obama, the first African American, was elected as our new president of the United States. We were proud because it was us, the youth, who spoke out and made a difference. Every young adult that went to the polls that day felt important. We were extremely enthusiastic and anxious to see what would happen next. Our president was “hip” and trendy; what young adult couldn’t relate to him? Plus, he had an abundant amount of celebrity endorsers; these were the same people that we admired and adored, standing behind our new leader. In 2008 the rapper P. Diddy campaign in support of President Obama was “Vote or Die” which was very powerful and possibly influenced many young adults to do just that. There were students who shed tears in that election if they could not cast their vote. Obama had A-List celebrities such as Beyonce and Jay-Z, John Legend, Stevie Wonder and Steven Spielberg supporting his movement. So, it is no wonder he won over the youth of America without a doubt about it. Obama made it very easy for young adults to identify with him and his charismatic and relaxed personality. He was the face of the youth with his liberal views; just the change we were looking for to represent us and he did just that, but of course significant change does not occur over night.
As a young adult voting in the 2012 Presidential Election I plan on voting for the candidate that I can best identify with. However, I do feel as though many young adults can collectively agree that we are ready for the 2012 election to be over with. A lot of young people already feel as though their vote does not count and this time around their very hesitant about having a voice in the election at all. And although many of us oppose Romney’s conservative views, we are not very pleased with our President’s performance thus far but we would rather keep him in office instead of his opponent who is quite disconnected with the youth of our society. A big focus of the election has been middle class and the average college student is not a part of the tax bracket; we are poor and struggling to pay for the education that may soon be unavailable to most because of insufficient income. It’s going to take our nation a lot longer than four years to fix our economy and restore the citizen’s faith in our leaders. I read a quote by an unknown, young college student that said, “People like me don’t have a say about what government does.” This is the same mind frame that many 18-29 year olds have. We realize just how important our vote is in the election yet some of us do not take out the time to understand each candidate’s position on imperative issues. Many young voters are cast a vote for a candidate based on popularity and not information regarding their political stance. These are not educated votes at all because this once eager group has “stopped believing the hype”.
I am mostly concerned with each candidate’s plans for education. The issues surrounding education is quite important to me because the decisions made by either party can have either a positive or negative effect on my life as a student. This also concerns me because I plan to be an educator upon graduating. President Obama or Governor Romney holds the fate of many young adults in their hands. Will funding for Pell Grants be cut back? If so, how will I pay for my education, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth? These are some of the questions that many young adults will be asking their self as they step into the booth to cast the vote. Who will it be President Obama or Governor Romney?
There’s no denying that Obama has charmed the youth of America. He did it four years ago and although the number of registered young voters has decreased significantly since 2008, he has still managed to capture their attention. Obama has campaigned on college campuses and that is not a coincidence. According to Alexandra Jaffe of National Journal, he has targeted the demographic of people that are already college students, those who plan on becoming college students, and those who do not have any intentions on furthering their education. He has appealed to these groups in particular by expressing his plans place freezes on student loan rates. He spoke at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and said, “Michelle and I, we have been in your shoes, like I say, we did not come from wealthy families. So when we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together.” Here is one way in which struggling college students can better identify with President Obama because he knows the hardships that students are faced with while in school and he does not try to act as if does not.
The current rate of subsidized loan are 3.4% and unsubsidized student loans are at a rate of 6.8%, which means that students are accumulating interest on these loans while they are enrolled in school on the latter. Also, if the provision to keep the rate of subsidized loans is not approved then students will be forced to pay twice as much interest on these loans. That is a significant increase in such as short amount of time. So, Obama is tackling these issues that are of concern to young college students with the anticipation of them re-electing him into office. He knows that it was the voice of the youth that helped him win before and he’s hoping that it will help him win again.
Nonetheless, many young adults are not as excited as they were previously. They have a lack of trust with our politicians and they cannot seem to decipher between the truth and the false promises that most candidates make. They simply do not know what to believe and many show a lack of interest in investigating the truth. The millennial generation is a group that does not know the importance of patience. We expect instant gratification in every aspect of our lives and the Presidential election/ candidates are no exception. We want to see change in our economy immediately after a candidate is elected into office and that was not the outcome of the 2008 election. As a result many students deem their vote as unimportant and insufficient enough to make a real difference in our nation. Therefore, due to the lack of eagerness displayed by the targeted group they opt out of participating in the 2012 election.
Many young voters have lost faith in the President however; Romney is definitely not the alternative that they are looking for. The millennial generation is a group of people whose views on societal issues are very liberal. They do not want to be told what to do, how to do it, and who to do it with. According to John Della Volpe, the polling director of Harvard Institute of Politics, “Although this generation is not as supportive of President Obama and Democrats as they may have been in the historic 2008 campaign, this in no way implies that the Republican Party has successfully captured the hearts, minds, and votes of millennials.” Governor Romney is just a bit too conservative to capture the majority vote from this particular group of voters.
So, what exactly are young voters concerned with? It’s actually quite simple; many young adults have concerns regarding education, the future of our economy and immigration laws . We have concerns regarding health care as well as social issues. Still employment is ranked extremely high for the millennial generation. Young Americans want more job opportunities now to better our futures as adults. In November of 2008 the unemployment rate was at 6.8%, today the number has rose to 7.8%. This number is even higher for the millennial generation standing at 11.8% and if there’s a lack of college education it is even higher than that. Students fear that all the hard work and efforts that are put forth in their studies will be in vain upon graduating because they cannot get a job. Unemployment is consistently increasing and the youth will be affected by it. Many of us are completing our degree programs in fields that may never be available for us to work in. Everyone is affected by the hardships that our nation faces. Senior citizens are remaining in the workforce well past retirement because they simply cannot afford to stop working; as a result, there’s no open position for graduating students to take advantage of. “I would like to be able to get a job with my [journalism] degree,” as stated by Devan Lewis, a junior at Jackson State University. These things are important to us because they directly affect our livelihood and hopes of a promising future.
Young voters tend to favor Obama over Romney because they favor his views. He believes that every student should have equal opportunity at education. President Obama said, “If we want America to lead in the 21st century, nothing is more important than giving everyone the best education possible- from the day they start preschool to the day they start their career.” Our President understands that it is the youth that will remain standing to continue leading our country forward in the right direction. So, if our youth is properly educated we can rest assure that when the day comes for the fate of the nation to be handed over to them the will make the best decisions to benefit our country. Education is necessity and it is also the first stepping stone in making it in today’s society; so, why not make it more affordable, accessible, and achievable? Obama has increased the support from the federal government so that more middle class families can help their children further their education. Thus far, Obama has raised the amount of Pell Grant by $905 and the number of Pell Grant recipients has increased by 50% which means that more students are receiving funding for school. He has convinced Congress to keep interest rates on loans down which has saved students and average of $1,000 on their loans and he plans to continue to keep rates low as long as he is in office. Obama is also concerned with making community colleges better so that they may in return provide the students will the skills they need to excel in some sort of trade if they chose to not attend a traditional four year university.
The quality of education that many students are receiving is simply not adequate enough for them to compete in the world of globalization. So many American companies have to look to other countries to help them staff their businesses because there’s a lack of potential American candidates for the job; this is due to the American educational system diminishing. Obama understands that there’s a parallel between education and the economy. If we want to strengthen our economy we must start at the root of the problem; which is the educational institutions. My goal upon graduating is to teach middle school science and I am very impressed with the president’s enthusiasm concerning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Education. He plans on making American students leaders in these areas of study. Plus, he supports educators, who can often be taken for granted yet; they can have a long lasting influence in many students’ lives.
So why give up on our President now? Four years is just not enough time to provide this country with the type of change that it needs and want to see. He has made many efforts to dig our country out of the hole that we are in but we must continue to mindful that these concerns that our nation face were not create overnight therefore they should not be expected to be fixed overnight. He has made changes forward since he was first elected and he will continue to do so as long as he is in office. He is for the youth of America and he has proven so by tackling issues that are of concern to us such as lifting a ban on giving federal money to organization such as Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion information and services. He has revitalized the automobile industry which has brought life back into the city of Detroit plus, he has made it a top priority to express the importance of educating our children because it is a nationwide concern. Obama passed a stimulus package that helped our economy from falling further into a recession. In addition, he passed the Affordable Care Act, which allowed students to remain on the parent’s health insurance up until they reached the age of 26. This means that students can complete their undergraduate studies and perhaps the graduate studies and remain on their parents insurance and not have to worry about health care. Obama also allowed many immigrants who entered into this country as children to evade deportation by altering policy administratively when the DREAM Act did not pass and he stands for women rights rather it is pro-choice or equal pay in the work field. President Obama said, “I want women to control their own health choices just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as you sons.” Obama has done many things since he was elected four years ago and although many millennials have second thoughts about the direction in which our country is heading, they still feel confident that our current president of the United States of America is just the type of person we need in office ensuring that we head in the right direction; which is forward.
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