this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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United States | News & Politics

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[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Neither are a problem in the European countries that I'm aware of yet young voter turnout is catastrophic there as well. Some parties definitely have a hard anti-Israel line. I'd be happy to see a counterexample but I think only bitter disappointment lays ahead.

Young people are increasingly disengaged from the "traditional" democratic process, globally. Less voter turnout, but also way less participation in traditional politics (which 25 year olds have a party membership card anymore?)

Interestingly though, Gen Z isn't necessarily politically inactive; they are still being activists, engaging in political discourse, and are donating a larger average percentage of their income than Gen X/Y IIRC.

That's not to excuse the extremely shortsighted decision not to vote, but the problem is a lot larger than some practical barriers. I truly think there are strong and multifaceted cultural elements to the youths increasingly not responding to the traditional representative democratic systems in the way that generations who grew up on TV did. Gerrymandering is bad, but don't expect a hypothetical fix to bring zoomers to the voting centers.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

... but the problem is a lot larger than some practical barriers. ...

i think that voter suppression and gerrymandering are less of a problem for younger voters and that the problem is more likely shitty candidates and shitty policies driving down enthusiasm/desire to vote.