A recent study somewhat unsurprisingly found that today's college students are apathetic about politics. They should be paying close attention to the issues and the politics surrounding this fall's election, because no group of people is more likely to be affected by its outcome.
If young voters sit it out, they'll have no voice in several critical issues facing them now and in the future. Among these issues are college affordability and burgeoning student debt. The more than 1 million students enrolled in higher education in New York as of 2009-2010 will amass more than $26,000 per student in debt on loans.
Student debt can't be discharged through bankruptcy, and it may haunt today's college people for a lifetime. For example, those with student loans to repay might not qualify for mortgages. Others may end up having Social Security and retirement benefits reduced to pay old student loans.
High unemployment and lack of jobs are a huge issue for the young, too. Official government unemployment numbers and the Department of Labor tell us that young adults account for 26 percent of unemployed workers, although they represent but 13 percent of the workforce.
The recent college graduate may have poor employment prospects. Young college grads saw their employment rates fall at the same time their unemployment rates increased.
Lack of employment also carries a heavy social burden with its accompanying delayed independence. More than half of 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed by the Pew Research Center said they live with their parents now or had done so recently. Among those ages 25 to 29, 41 percent had at some point done the same.
Since the 2008 elections, 16.8 million young people have become old enough to vote. Young adults between ages 18 and 29 make up about 46 million, or 24 percent, of the total voting population. In 2008, 84 percent of the youth registered to vote actually cast a ballot; at the 2010 midterm elections, the youth vote had dropped to 20.4 percent. And youth voter registration rates are much lower than those in older age groups.
The difference is that the 39 million seniors eligible to vote do so in much higher numbers, so they — and their issues — get political attention. Yet "millennial" young people could wield far more political clout than they do, but only if they vote.
A survey of young voters by Tufts University indicates that of the 29 percent not yet registered to vote, nearly one in three thought they had until Election Day to register – despite living in states that require voters to register at least 30 days in advance. An additional 44 percent didn't know whether they need a government photo ID or a driver's license to vote — something the new, restrictive voter ID laws require.
Complicating matters, 2012 is the first presidential election in 20 years to immediately follow a U.S. Census, which means many voters are in new districts and polling places may have changed. As many as 29 million established voters may be affected.
Still, young voters simply cannot afford to sit out the election. There is too much riding on its outcome.
Donna Seymour is public policy director for American Association of University Women AUW-New York State and a member of the St. Lawrence County Branch of the American Association of University Women.