By: Cecile Nienstedt
Voting is often dismissed as a modern inconvenience—especially in local elections. Voting is a habit enforced and formed over time. Young people are voting less often because they have had less time to form and reinforce the habit of participating in elections.
Many grew up in households that did not participate in elections; therefore, it was never reinforced. These experiences can create “habitual nonvoters” to “habitual voters,” stated Eric Plutzer, a political scientist at Penn State. Everyone is impacted by what their friends and peers do. However, older people are more likely to have witnessed friends casting ballots over the course of several election cycles.
Another reason for the recent downward trend of Gen-Z voters correlates to a recent poll conducted by Morning Consult that researched patriotic sentiment in America. Gen-Z adults have much lower trust in U.S. government institutions than older generations. They are also much less likely than other groups to say they are proud to live in the U.S. Voting is considered a “patriotic duty”—therefore, the level of patriotism and voter turnout are both relatively low in Gen-Z.
This is an opportunity to improve U.S. patriotism by advocating for Gen-Z to participate in local and national elections to create changes to the government. To achieve justice or reform, we must use the ability to vote for our policymakers. This is possible through news literacy skills and practicing your right to vote.
To encourage future generations of voters, we rely on our ability to trust information that affects our daily lives. Using news literacy tools such as RumorGuard or Checkology makes checking facts simpler than ever before. Being informed before you vote is a critical responsibility, and we all share it as U.S. citizens to make a difference in our local community and nationally.