On September 23, 2016, an article from The New York Times titled For Every 10 U.S. Adults, Six Vote and Four Don’t. What Separates Them? showing as the title describes what can influence how individuals vote and why they choose to vote or not vote. The article breaks down in different ways who votes and why. It writes about educational influence, wealth influence, racial demographics and even shows how low our voting turnout is for the presidential elections. It also shows a very interesting fact on how the majority of nonvoters are white, middle-classed and middle-aged voters and not young millennials.
This article by The New York Times is important because it shows that not only the majority of nonvoters are white, middle-classed and middle-aged voters and not young millennials, but why it is that only 58% of eligible voters turned out to vote in the presidential election in 2012. “Most of the differences between people who vote and those who don’t vote can be accounted for by motivational reasons — levels of political interest and engagement,” said Benjamin Highton, a professor of political science at the University of California, Davis. “And levels of political interest and engagement are strongly correlated with education and income.” This to me always seems to be the reoccurring theme about why the voting turnout is always so low and it should be what we should work on so we can have a higher voting rate in the U.S. I believe that such a low turnout should not be the standard for voting in America and that things such as education and wealth and interest should not keep voters from shying away from their right to vote.
