Yes, you heard me correctly. Despite the upcoming election, I did not register to vote right on my 18th birthday. I did not even plan on voting in the election because I thought it was a waste of time and that I did not even like any of the candidates. So why did I just do it now? It’s because my parents highly encouraged me to, even if my vote goes against theirs.
Source: Swarthmore
My parents gave me a lecture on how it is my civic duty to vote in the election many times, but if I do not like any of the candidates, then what is the point. They then said that it is about choosing the lesser of the two evils, to which I then replied, “Why are two evils trying to run my country?”
A lot of students are pressured by their parents to vote for who they want them to, but that may drive them to vote against them out of spite. Like I posted about in the last article, people vote against things more than they do for them. I know that I absolutely do not agree with my parents’ views and will probably vote against them in the election unless something drastic happens with the other side, but that may be a different story for other kids.
Source: CNN
Some kids are even affected by their friend group. If they say something that goes against their friends’ views, then they might be labeled as something they’re not. I know that my friend group all happens to be the opposite position that I hold so I refrain from talking about politics with them.
Even with this coronavirus pandemic going on the people are still being railed up about the election and who is the best Democratic candidate to go up against Trump. I think that people need to start to put the politics aside and just focus on the present quarantine situation. If there is no one around to vote for the future president then all of this arguing will be useless.
But back to the scenario when kids get influenced by their parents. Kids need to form their own opinions based on what they believe is the best possible scenario. We don’t want kids to be exact replicas of their parents like in the Progressive commercials.
I do not care if you vote or not. Vote if you want to but it is not the end of the world if you refuse.
Sources:
I totally respect your decision that you had to not register until just now. My feelings lie along the same plane as yours. While I believe it is people’s civic duty to give their say on the countries activities, as students and still rather young people in america it is hard for us to know what we really want, not just what people surrounding us are saying. And, even then, some times it just seems like there is no point for us to vote or that we really do not care because we do not want anyone who is running nor do we feel it will greatly impact us.