The Student News Site of Sonoma State University

Sonoma State Star

The Student News Site of Sonoma State University

Sonoma State Star

The Student News Site of Sonoma State University

Sonoma State Star

A new age of voters cross party lines

The term millennial represents the newer generation, born between the early 1980’s to 2000. Being a younger generation, millennials often are thought of as representatives of new thoughts and new ideas. The “old school” way of thinking is almost non-existent to them. They represent change.

Republican’s aren’t faring well in the eyes of millennials.

The preference of voters under the age of 30 is for Democrats rather than Republicans nearly doubled in the last year, according to the survey by Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
The million-dollar question is “Why?” Is it truly the difference in perspective from the millennials? Or are the Republican nominees simply out of touch with what matters most to the younger generation? No doubt Republican front-runner Donald Trump has turned many young adults away from the Republican Party as of late. With his antics alone, he’s sure to rub some people the wrong way.

I’m not very big on politics. I barely watch the news and can’t understand half of what is going on at the time. However, when I hear some guy named Trump confusing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with an international chain of convenience stores, I immediately discredit anything he says. Regardless of his political stance, a person who represents something so important as the Republican party saying something like that is enough for me.

Yet, could his behavior be the primary source of millennials’ preference of a Democrats doubling in the past year?

The real issue that has forced the change in views upon my generation is difference in priorities.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 48 percent to 16 percent of young voters said politicians today aren’t up to meeting the challenges facing the country.  By 54 percent to 11 percent, they said elected officials don’t have the same priorities as they do. Six in 10 said elected officials are motivated by selfishness.

As the future of this great nation, millennials feel strongly about topics that matter to them. Healthcare, the cost of tuition and job opportunities are what we care about. Trump has so far expressed interest in building a giant wall to keep out illegal immigrants from the United States. Out of all the problems we have going on inside our country, that’s one of your main focuses? It’s no wonder why we’re so turned off to the party he represents and its ideas.

Bernie Sanders is someone who reflects the ideals of the millennials the most.
He regularly expresses a change in the law enforcement, prison systems and cost of tuition. He is clearly running for president with the future of my generation in mind.

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