Your Opinion, Please.

[H2O Man]

36. Interesting!

Thank you! And I definitely agree that "the youth vote is notoriously unreliable" by reputation. Being very old, and thus cranky by reputation, I've seen generations of young people reaching voting age like waves on a beach, and there have been times when as a group, they seem less interested than I wish they were. Many, likely most, are older now, and hopefully have learned their lesson. (grin)

A lot of my experience is with "local" and "regional" elections, stretching back to when I was first old enough to vote. It was then that I found a connection between getting young people interested in voting, and getting volunteers to go door-to-door, make phone calls, etc. My own chiden always volunteered time at the local Democratic Party HQ, well before they were 18. In 2008, a friend was running for a House seat in our highly republican district. The evening before election day, he was nervous about his chances of winning. I told him that he'd win by the number of houses my daughters had gone to that day. It turned out that I was off by ten votes, but he definitely won.

If young people see a connection between "politics" and their daily lives, they will become active. If a candidate has real appeal -- the kind that creates excitement -- they will vote in solid numbers. Just my opinion, of course, based upon my experience.