If you’re 18 to 29 then this post is for you!
Despite the the numbers showing a blue wave is coming this midterm election, we have cause for concern, not only about the midterm, but for all future elections. Voter turn out among young people has always been low and has only seen a small rise in recent years. While young people overwhelmingly lean blue, they are not reliable voters. For instance one poll shows that only 28% of young people are absolutely certain they will vote in the midterms compared to 74% of seniors. Although another poll shows 48% of young people certain they will vote. Regardless, of the exact numbers, I want to address the reality that you, young people, are a wellspring of untapped power. Look at how young people have voted over the past few decades:
Now, what if I told you that we could make the total numbers for upcoming elections look like those recent years across the country?
You know who consistently votes Republican? Everyone purple and above. But do you know who shows up to vote in both greater numbers and more consistently? Everyone purple and above. You see the problem?
Millennials and Gen X make up over 50% of the Eligible Voter Population. Both groups heavily lean left. Now, on top of that to add in another overlapping demographic, the Rising American Electorate (these are the demographics with the largest numbers) are single unmarried women, millennials, and minorities making up 59.2 of the EVP (Eligible Voter Population). All of these groups are strongly Democrat. But there’s a problem with this group too.
This graph means that roughly 63.8 percent of RAE voters from 2016 are expected not to vote in the 2018 election. That’s two thirds of RAE, while only about one third on non-RAE will drop off. Again, there are conflicting numbers showing we are gaining more voters on the blue side for the upcoming election.
This is why we need to register to vote!
Do you realize that if we had even close to full participation from the RAE that we wouldn’t just win elections we could literally push Republicans out of government! That’s not an exaggeration. If the RAE make up up about 60% of the voting population and we got say 40% to vote, virtually all would vote democrat. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but in 2016 only about a third of our population voted. And that 40% wouldn’t even make up all democratic votes, there are still a large portion of liberal Gen Xers and others voting. Women make up at least half of our population and virtually all of them have liberal views.
The truth is that there is no reason mathematically Republicans should even be in government, let alone be in control. I’ve written before about our need to separate our country from them. They only stay in power due to gerrymandering, voter suppression, education suppression, prison industrial system, corporate feedback loop, racism, and consistent voter base of old white men.
You have far more power than you know, and you can transform the face of this nation, but we need a cultural shift. We need voting, civic action, and political conversation be cool among young people. I’m serious. As long as you’re distracted and disinterested then Republicans win, corporations win, baby boomers win, racists win, and our country continues to be run by a minority population of rich, old, white men.
I don’t need to tell young people who horrible the Trump administration is, but I think I do need to say other people (older, more established adults, that live boring lives) cannot fix this on their own. Without your portion of the voting population we are losing elections to people who don’t reflect the values of the larger population. It’s absolute insanity.
Want action on climate change? VOTE
Want anti-corruption laws? VOTE
Want women’s rights? VOTE
Want equality and protection? VOTE
Want tuition free college? VOTE
Want legal Marijuana? VOTE
Want people to stop fucking dying without healthcare? VOTE
Want to feed, house, and clothe homeless people? VOTE
Want to get money out of politics? VOTE
Want to stop police from murdering black people? VOTE
Want religious freedom and freedom from religion? VOTE
I think part of the problem is that at 18 to 25 you’re so used to not being in control that it may not be internalized how much say over your world you have. I know I was stilling trying to screw my head on straight at that age, let alone worry about all the problems of the world. But what I didn’t understand then was that for anything I complained about there is something that can be done, and I wasn’t taking the time to learn what that was. Voting is the literally the least you can do in a democracy, please register to vote for this midterm election. Time is almost out so do it NOW.
