As the U.S. elections draw closer, politicians are starting to turn out in full force. However, many citizens will fail to get involved in the election process.
The 2014 midterm election voter turnout was the worst it had been in 72 years, with a national average of 36.3 percent, according to a New York Times article.
“I think there is different levels [of awareness],” Brad McMillan, executive director of the Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service, said. “I think the first level is to try to follow the issues that are important to you and learn about as much as you can about candidates that are running for office. The second level is where you become really passionate about a cause or an issue and you volunteer for an organization that supports that issue.”
According to McMillan, voting is a big part of the process.
“I tell my students in my leadership class this: If you’re not registered to vote and you’re of age, I believe you don’t have a right to complain about the issues that are going on,” McMillan said. “It’s a fundamental right so many people have hard fought for, and what my hope is for Bradley is that we’re going to have many opportunities for Bradley students to vote in the coming months.”
The degree to which people get involved in politics and are civically engaged is a wide spectrum, according to College Democrats President Katie Conterio, and Jason Blumenthal, president of College Republicans, agreed.
“I would say those who are completely into it are into it and passionate about it, and those who are not are like, ‘This is a joke,’” Blumenthal said. “I think currently the gridlock going on in D.C. really is a turnoff.”
However, McMillan said people do become more invested once they come to college and become more independent.
“I think apathy, not only among college students, but among the public in general is a very significant issue,” McMillan said. “If you look at the percentage of registered voters that turn out and vote in a primary, the numbers are extremely low and so you have a very small part of the population nominating the candidates for president of the United States and the percentages get a little bit better when you get to the general election, but the reality is apathy is a big problem.”
Blumenthal agreed most young people are apathetic to politics but not the issues in general.
“I think [our generation] gets a lot more energized about the issues and care to fight the issues, but we don’t want the politics that goes into it,” Blumenthal said.
Conterio said young people are looking for different ways to be politically engaged than the traditional campaign trail.
“I think we’re more excited but in different ways,” Conterio said. “I see people take to Facebook, arguing for their point of view, and that’s not apathetic. That’s like proactive, exciting, I think it’s just more of a passive activity. But people’s voices are trying to be heard way more than in the past … They’re going about it in different avenues today than before because they have the means to, and I don’t think that is recognized as much as it should be.”
Technology and how the younger generation interacts with it have also changed how they perceive politics.
“Technology has changed the mean of accessing information,” Blumenthal said. “We’re not sitting in front of the TV hearing Walter Cronkite tell us about the news everyday and talk about these hard-hitting stories or anything like that. We’re listening to pundits tell us the news, that it’s a bias and I think our generation, we don’t like that.”
Bradley has several ways for students to get more involved and to be aware of politics. The College Republicans held a debate watching party several weeks ago.
Conterio also said there are many different ways to be civically involved. She mentioned the die-in protest students held to support the Black Lives Matter movement as one example found on campus.
Additionally, Student Senate is working on getting students registered to vote, according to McMillan.
“I serve as an adviser to the student general assembly, and we’re working on trying to get opportunities for voter registration on campus, leading up to the March presidential primary here,” McMillan said. “I do believe that the Illinois primary might be important this time around and that I think the key is for students to let their voices be heard and to get engaged.”
