You’re at home watching coverage of the political campaign on CNN, and you make a comment about something one of the candidates says. Instead of getting a response in return, your parents say, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
College students are often brushed off and ignored when they talk politics. For this reason, we continue to carry the negative reputation of being politically uninterested and uninformed.
However, with this election, we’re breaking that stereotype.
The Miami Hurricane conducted a poll on its website regarding the 2012 election season. Within two days, the poll received nearly 300 votes per question.
These students don’t seem politically uninterested nor uninformed.
Our survey asked students nine questions relating to voter registration, political party affiliation and important issues affecting the nation.
Results revealed that the majority of students at the University of Miami who participated are registered voters, primarily Democrat, and believe the economy is the most important issue facing the youth right now.
Satirical programs such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and increased communication with presidential candidates through social media outlets have given American youth more momentum and political knowledge to take to the polls. The youth is ready to vote.
In past generations, it may have been true that the youth was in the dark about presidential candidate platforms and political policies, but it is time to move on.
As the world turns, the youth is evolving and politics is becoming second nature.
Students have realized that politics can make or break their futures. Job opportunities, economic growth and college debt depend on the candidates we vote into office.
Each political party is grounded on a certain belief system, and it is up to us to decide what system we will endorse for a greater tomorrow.
It is more than a red and blue color affiliation. It is more than an elephant and a donkey. It is more than a sticker saying, “I voted today.”
It is our lives that we are putting in the hands of one man, President Barack Obama or Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney.
Separately, we are just a whisper. But together, we are a voice. And that voice can be expressed on a ballot, just 47 days away.
It is up to us. We are the difference.
Editorials represent the majority view of The Miami Hurricane editorial board.