As graduation nears RM students, so does their ability to vote. Approximately, 40.8 million young adults will be able to vote in the next presidential election, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The new Generation Z voters are vital for the next presidential elections as they have been in the forefront of many political and social movements, such as March for Our Lives and climate strikes.
This presidential election, there are many different political and social issues students at RM are considering. For young voters, the main policies and issues that they want tackled are inflation, environmental and sustainable policies, improved gun laws and abortion However, many RM seniors do not feel their beliefs will be properly represented by the candidates available. “We obviously know who the candidates for each respective party are going to be and I feel like neither of them are a good fit for presidency,” senior Carlos Martinez said.
Many RM voters have expressed concern over the limited options they have on who to vote for. “I do want to vote because I feel like it’s important […] but also I don’t really want to because I don’t like the candidates,” senior Abby Adissu said.
Similarly, young voters aren’t satisfied with the potential presidential nominees. Throughout the country, there has been discontent with President Joe Biden’s administration however, former President Trump isn’t popular among young voters either. This can likely result in a significant number of voters choosing not to head to the polls.
According to the New York Times, 44 percent of eligible voters regularly choose not to vote. Along with that, Harvard conducted a poll for this upcoming election, which resulted in 49 percent of young voters saying they will definitely vote, which has dropped from past years.
Despite the lack of motivation to vote, many RM students have expressed that they believe voting is very important and can have a significant impact on the outcome of the election. “Voting is really important. I feel like a lot of times people say that the system is broken, and I’m not saying it works perfectly, but [they] don’t understand the fact that movements that are actually pushing for change takes decades. I do think voting does matter,” Adissu said.
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