Is Voting for Young People?
Political Science 298 Book Review November 6th, 2012 Danny Fitzpatrick
Is Voting For Young People?
The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate. According to Wattenberg, there is only one method to make young people care about voting. Wattenberg believes that Compulsory Voting is the only method to obtain votes from young people. Compulsory Voting requires all adult citizens to vote in an election or pay a fine. Compulsory Voting would be a useful method to obtain a larger voter turnout from young people. The low attendance of young voters is bad because those young voters will be in charge of the United States one day. All people in the United States unless under the required voting age should cast their vote in an election. By failing to vote, a person is missing their chance to fulfill their civic duty. “A generation who is relatively unlikely to see voting as an important civic responsibility is one who may well have many of its members lost as voters for the rest of its duration.” (Page- 128, IVYP) Wattenberg believes young voters need to participate or fall victim to being ignorant. Being ignorant to elections is bad because there are people in the United States that political policies will affect. By not voting and being ignorant to an election, a person misses the chance to vote for a candidate that could better their own situation. There are
Is Voting For Young People?
The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate. According to Wattenberg, there is only one method to make young people care about voting. Wattenberg believes that Compulsory Voting is the only method to obtain votes from young people. Compulsory Voting requires all adult citizens to vote in an election or pay a fine. Compulsory Voting would be a useful method to obtain a larger voter turnout from young people. The low attendance of young voters is bad because those young voters will be in charge of the United States one day. All people in the United States unless under the required voting age should cast their vote in an election. By failing to vote, a person is missing their chance to fulfill their civic duty. “A generation who is relatively unlikely to see voting as an important civic responsibility is one who may well have many of its members lost as voters for the rest of its duration.” (Page- 128, IVYP) Wattenberg believes young voters need to participate or fall victim to being ignorant. Being ignorant to elections is bad because there are people in the United States that political policies will affect. By not voting and being ignorant to an election, a person misses the chance to vote for a candidate that could better their own situation. There are