Voting: Young People Are Opting Out. Is It Time to Just Say No?
‘Historic’ March for Climate Change, But A Troubling Atmosphere
A study earlier this year by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that young Americans 18 to 29 years old aren’t interested in voting.
Only 23 percent of participants said they plan to vote in November. Their trust in government is “at a five-year low” and “their cynicism toward the political process has never been higher,” and they’re opting out of voting, said IOJ director Trey Grayson. Interestingly, disillusionment with politics was more prevalent among Democratic participants, but Conservatives and Republicans were most enthusiastic about the midterm and November elections, the study found.
Young people aren’t the only demographic turned off by politics in general, and the Obama administration in particular. So, will opting out catch on this November and beyond?
It certainly was historic. As many as 400,000 people, according to news reports, coursed through midtown Manhattan yesterday in the People’s Climate March in vivid demand for world action on measures to curb global warming. The United Nations tomorrow hosts a preliminary climate summit that will lay out an agenda for a major international conference next year in Paris.
Leid Stories discusses the climate-change march and why so much about it was and is troubling.
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