US holding elections Elec College 100s yrs
Only lately youth participating – voting/campaigning
Why? I will outline – 3 reasons
Mass media has improved all around
The news isn’t “lame” or boring any more
Popular channels have adapted – Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert
Newest news isn’t plain; it’s humor too
Even the uninformed have some idea of what’s going on
News informs and entertains
Candidates know what’s popular
Pop culture -> Campaigns
Hillary’s Sopranos episode – new campaign song
Huckabee’s Chuck Norris ad – quite funny
All on Youtube
Even debates on Youtube – viewers submit questions in short video form
The effect: People associate with the candidates – good and bad
Good – people get out and vote for who they feel a connection with
More motivated to support candidates
“Will.i.am” – Yes We Can, immensely popular – not much to do with ptx
Willing to discuss ptx more
Bad – people don’t know what their candidate actually means for the country
Hillarycare, what else?
McCain in the armed forces?
Nothing differing from the party stance
Leads to empty rhetoric
For those three reasons, young voters are more involved
The downside – less informed
Hopefully, this will come with time
I hope I’ve illuminated these reasons
Thanks for your time