Decision 2008

The Politics Of Excitement
By Megan Biscieglia

Whether you like it or not, this year’s election represents a historic change, and it will take place in the ballot box where more young people than ever before will be voting -- many for the first time. Evidence of this change was seen in the 2008 primary elections where young voters increased a whopping 103% from the 2004 primary elections.

So why are the young people getting more involved this election season?

Abby Jones, 21, a first time voter believes it is because of the access they have to political information, either from a nominee’s official site or a friend’s Facebook status. “I think that because people are so connected young people are getting more involved (in the election),” Jones said. “We have Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal, blogs, etc. to share our own individual view and you can Google either nominee and find out anything you want about them. Young people don’t have an excuse to not know what’s going on in the election.”

Mary McGee, 20, agrees, “There are more ways of expressing yourself politically.”

The amount of information about the election being presented is hard to deny. Information, fact or fiction about the nominees can be found on every channel, in every newspaper, and in every magazine.

“Celebrities are endorsing their favorite candidates and because so many people read gossip magazines with celebrities in them, the election is everywhere,” says Jones. “There’s so much gossip surrounding the nominees.”

Mcgee says, “This is a very explosive election. Obama is being presented by the media as a rock star. He’s on the cover of Rolling Stone and he’s young, intelligent, and handsome.”

Many young people feel let down by the Bush presidency and it’s driving them straight to the voting booths. Paul Dakin, 20, another first time voter says that he’s voting because, “There’s more awareness. I don’t want to go through what we’ve already had. It’s been one bad thing after another for the past eight years.”

Jones agrees, “I want to feel good about being an American. I want to be able to look up to our president. We’ve become the laughing stock of the world.”

Young voters believe that this election is about people getting people involved and that Obama and Palin represent something refreshing and new in politics, which excites people. “This is history in the making,” Dakin says.