By Ravyn Daniel
Editors Note: This article reflects the opinions of the writer.
Bosses, parents, grandparents—they all love to sit around and talk about what our generation isn’t doing. They like to say we are lazy and apathetic, especially when it comes to the election or civic engagement.
It’s easy to accept their opinions, but I decided to find out the truth in what my millennial and Generation Z counterparts believe. After extensive research, I found millennials and Generation Z’s do care about politics and are more involved than we think.
As I’m sure you’re aware, voter turnout continues to decrease each congressional election. Younger generations historically don’t vote in the same numbers as older generations. But does that mean we can assume millennials and Generation Z’s are not involved in civic engagement and are not aware of what is happening in the news?
I turned to Facebook and Instagram to find out. I created a survey to determine millennial and Generation Z thoughts about voting and posted it on my social media channels. I received 68 responses with 66 of the responses eligible for testing due to the participants’ ages of 18 to 35 years old.
Of the combined 66 millennial and Generation Z students, 80 percent of respondents previously voted in at least one election, 48 percent use social media to check the news every day and 85 percent agree it is important for U.S. citizens to exercise their right to vote.
“Millennials are about as interested in politics as youth in prior generations,” said RussellDalton, Center of Democracy research professor at the University of California, “and about as politically active outside elections. They’re involved in local communities, volunteering and challenging political elites.”
The times are changing: Millennials are the only age group to show an increase in voter turnout in 2016. All other age groups experienced a decline.
Smaller numbers of millennials and Generation Z’s may vote,but we are involved in our local communities. Generation Z’s engage in community and societal efforts but have little faith in the overall government,said Amy Lynch, generation expert and public speaker.
I agree with Lynch. We may not run to the polls in droves, but we have strong opinions about how our community functions. We don’t want government officials to tell us what to do; we want to change the world ourselves.
As John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
