On Instagram, you pass by another post of Kamala Harris’s infamous coconut meme. One post later, it’s a video of an innocent Palestinian girl begging for donations as her family members lost their lives, along with over 40,000 others. You open the comments, analyzing the high-strung arguments and claims. Another post later, it’s a news channel covering yet another shooting. You scroll, and you see yet another post where people viciously argue over abortion.
You scroll, scroll, scroll, and scroll. When will these conflicts go away? What have I done to help? What has society done to help?
In a survey by Intelligent consisting of 500 moderate, 500 conservative, and 500 liberal students, 52% said they always or often keep political opinions to themselves due to fear of reprisal from other students and professors regarding respect, grades, and safety.
Statesman attributes the decline in political participation amongst younger generations to ‘cancel culture’—a phenomenon in which an individual loses support, respect, and friends due to one’s beliefs, particularly on social media platforms. Thus, young adults refuse to speak on political issues for fear that they will be ostracized by their peers, face stigma for taking a political stand, and face relentless accusations and criticism associated with political movements.
For instance, according to Forbes, students saw criticizing Black Lives Matter as a form of racism rather than an opinion. Alongside the fear of ridicule for political beliefs, Statesman believes that students don’t participate in politics because they don’t feel educated enough to discuss it.
However, with the upcoming Presidential Election, Statesman surmises that for students who have the ability to vote, voting will incentivize them to research policies and develop their own beliefs because voting gives the power to catalyze societal change and transformation.
In fact, according to a youth survey (ages 18–29) conducted by Tufts, only 40% of young adults feel well-qualified to participate in politics, which hinders their ability to participate in political events. Statesman strongly advocates for young adults to be at least educated on current events, such as abortion gun violence, and presidential candidates, in the political world as younger generations foster the change needed in present-day America.
Despite the alarmingly low political awareness rate, the Headway Election Challenge, conducted by the New York Times, made an exciting discovery—voter turnout among eligible voters aged 18–29 grew from 38% in 2016 to 50% in 2020. In addition, 78% of those surveyed felt that voter turnout would experience some level of increase for the upcoming election.
While the increased expected voter turnout is beneficial for accurate representation of the people, the University of California found that young voters believe that a fractured, dysfunctional government system is incapable of addressing critical challenges that heavily impact our generation, creating a sense of fatalism across the nation.The Berkeley Institute for Young Americans (BIFYA) cites that millions of young liberals and progressives are deserting the Democratic party, while millions of young conservatives are turning away from the Republican party. The research found that many are so disappointed with the current state that they could prefer to opt out of political engagement altogether.
Statesman is concerned that young Americans will not vote on Election Day since they dislike the choices alongside the widespread belief that politicians are no longer able to meet the challenges the country is facing. Erin Heys, BIFYA’s institute policy direction and senior research, found that Millennials and Gen Zers are generations unlike any other because of the risks they face. He explains that they have to deal with the threat of climate change and AI, the housing crisis, and other societal issues—overwhelming hardships that discourage young people and doubt the responsiveness and credibility of the political system.
Additionally, thanks to social media, students not only have shorter attention spans, but the “meme-ification” of politics has led to widespread misconceptions, which further complicate understanding political issues. To add on, these memes have perpetuated such a negative light on politics that many view politics as a joke. Due to the adverse effects of social media, Statesman suspects that social media limits the desire to understand political issues and creates an unsafe environment in which to express political concerns.
However, Statesman asserts social media is a double-edged sword: although it can hinder political literacy, social media also holds the power to make a positive impact on voter registration via celebrity endorsements. On Sept. 10, pop star Taylor Swift took to her 284 million fanbase on Instagram to endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz after the first Presidential debate between vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump. According to Reuters, vote.gov received over 400,000 visitors 24 hours after Swift shared a custom URL to vote on her Instagram story, while Swift’s post reached over 11 million likes.
Seeing how powerful celebrity endorsements can be, social media pages such as KamalaHQ have been curated specifically for Gen Z in hopes to get them more engaged in politics. That being said, social media has also created various memes and edited clips regarding both Harris and Trump, causing many to create poorly-informed opinions against both candidates. While memes do allow for politics to be more relatable for Gen Z, they also take away from the seriousness of the issues at hand.
Although celebrity endorsements may have limited influence on voters, Statesman hopes that newly registered voters will vote their selected candidate due to the research they’ve done, not because their favorite celebrity is voting for them.
In order to cultivate an environment where Americans ages 18 and older are politically active, the first step is political education. Young students should understand American history and civics and read reputable publications in order to be able to participate in political discussion and action. Joining campaigns, registering to vote in local, state, and national elections, and participating in community outreach and service are all great opportunities to become more politically active.
As for students under 18, Statesman notices that they are hyper-focused on their futures; consumed with their secondary education, extracurriculars, and day-to-day activities, students have a negative perception of researching politics. To them, political choices do not affect them since they are too young to vote, deeming political literacy and policy research as illogical and a waste of time. Political action, however, is vital for students as policies regarding abortion, job markets, and inflation will directly affect students as they enter the workforce.
Regardless of the current perception, individuals under 18 can create an immense impact in politics. From joining a protest to signing a petition to boycotting, there is a wide scope of available actions young students can participate in order to incentivize change. By participating in these events, students can drive attention to issues previously left ignored.
Ultimately, Statesman believes that more younger Americans should be involved in politics as prevalent aspects of society—access to education, gun violence, abortion, and so on—will gradually impact us as time progresses. The future of our lives is directly related to our present day’s decisions, so we urge young Americans, both over and under 18, to research and understand the political landscape of today to pave the path for a better future.