After the Parkland shooting, the media started to push the narrative that young people have arrived, they have spoken, and they are a force to be reckoned with in the next election cycle. This is, however, nonsense.
Young people have never been a huge presence at the voting booth, and there is no reason to think the upcoming elections will be any different. Throughout the years, fewer young people – age 18 to 29 – have voted. In 1992, the number was 62 percent – only 12 percent less than the older population – age 65 and older. By 2016, only 43 percent of young people voted – 35 percent less than the older population. This is to say that there has been a clear trend in America: young people have never voted in large numbers, and the percentage is only dropping.
These facts do not lend themselves well to the media’s narrative, yet they use examples like the March for Our Lives to suggest that young people are coming out in huge numbers to participate in civil engagement of the highest order. Maybe a few young people are fired up, and led that march, but young people did not make up the majority of attendees at the March for Our Lives. In fact, the average age of the people attending the march was 49. Despite that, the media painted a picture that the March for Our Lives was organized by kids, attended by kids, and that kids will be the demographic come election time.
There is a true disconnect between the media’s perception of reality and reality itself. The media looks at five politically knowledgeable high school students and accepts them as the norm, when in reality, it is far from it. They think every teenager in the country is passionate about issues such as gun control, even though, most teens would rather play video games than talk about something so serious.
Contrary to what the media will tell you, there is a real problem of people not being involved in the political process. It is imperative that we start a movement to get people out and vote, to be active in politics, and be just as civically engaged in the future as the media’s narrative is intended to make it look right now.
Americans are taking our rights for granted. That is why it is of the utmost importance that everyone works to increase civic engagement, not just for Generation Z and millennials, but across all generations of Americans. The only way to make America truly great is to hear everyone’s voice and work to ensure that more Americans are informed. We must recognize the fact that we must look at ourselves as a country and make the decision to turn all of this around. We need to take advantage of all the rights that we are privileged to have as American citizens.
Until that happens, it would be unreasonable to assume the younger generation will be the force in the upcoming election that the media says it will be.
