Could Young Voters Undermine the Process? - Political Opinion

When it comes to politics, many young people are quick to complain but slow to vote. Many don’t even know when Election Day is. Consequently, politicians in power give little credence to their opinions and overlook their issues. Young people then, in turn, become upset or cynical when the political process fails to reflect their interests; and a downward spiral begins.

But in this election season, conventional wisdom is being turned on its head. Young people are going to the polls; and they are single handedly keeping Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination.

However, this Obama phenomenon reveals something very interesting about young voters: They are uninformed. It is much easier to attend a highly publicized Obama event in their college town and be wowed by the “candidate of change” (I have witnessed this first hand) than it is to dig through the misinformation and find out a candidate’s record and where he really stands on the issues. This is one of the reasons why Obama’s support drops off rapidly as the electorate gets older and more informed.

Obama’s speeches have very little substance, but make for effective sales pitches. He sells people on his candidacy before they have a chance to get to really know who he is. And as any political operative will tell you, it’s harder to change someone’s mind when they’ve already made it up.

Source ElephantBiz

This post is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Net News Publisher