Tough times quiet youths’ ‘Obamamania’
CHICAGO (AP) — Young Americans showed their collective power when they helped vote President Barack Obama into office. Inspired by his message of change, they knocked on doors, spread fliers, voted for him by a 2-1 margin and partied like rock-the-vote stars when he won.
Since the election, though, that fervor has died down — noticeably. And though young people remain the president’s most loyal supporters in opinion polls, a lot of people are wondering why that age group isn’t doing more to build upon their newfound reputation as political influencers.
“It’s one thing to get excited about a presidential candidate. It’s another thing to become a responsible citizen,” says Jennifer Donahue, political director for the New Hampshire Institute Of Politics. She and other political analysts think they have yet to prove themselves.
Professors and students themselves also are noticing the quiet on college campuses, which were hotbeds for “Obamamania” during the campaign.
“They’re supportive, but in a bystander kind of way,” says Laura Katz Olson, a political-science professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
Erin Carroll, a 19-year-old sophomore at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, blames the lack of engagement on her generation’s short attention span. They want change — right now, she says — and haven’t gotten it.
It’s not just on college campuses.
Russ Marshalek, a 27-year-old professional in Astoria, N.Y., observes his 20-something peers sitting back and letting the president do the work for them. “Rather than allow him to speak for us, we need to be inspired by him, and volunteer in our communities, speak our minds, write, read, think, act,” says Marshalek, a social-media director.
To be fair, says political scientist Mike Wagner, it’s tough for young people — or any American, for that matter — to know how to get involved in issues with solutions that aren’t always so clear-cut.
Volunteering for a candidate? Fairly easy to do. Helping solve some of the toughest issues to face our nation, from health-care reform to a deep-seated financial crisis? Not so much.