The Undecided Voter
My local church is a small, youth focused congregation. It is mostly local kids, Hawaiian and Filipino, high school and college aged. A few weeks ago, our pastor made a brief announcement before starting the sermon. He was interested in knowing who would attend a short term study on the political issues that are present in next month’s election. A large number of people raised their hands and expressed interest. Few youth are issue driven rather than party driven when staking their claim at the booth, but the response to our pastor’s announcement was proof enough of the interest that lies behind issue based voting.
The congregation’s reaction got me to thinking on the undecided voter in the upcoming election. MSNBC recently reported that up to a fifth of voters are still unsure whether they are putting their check next to McCain or Obama come November 4th. Those are huge numbers when considering that Obama’s lead in the polls could be swayed by these undecided voters.
But how are the nations’ young adults educating themselves when it comes to issue based voting? And, in the end, are the nations’ youth basing their vote on issues or party?
I admit, myself even, that I tend to be party based when making a decision about a candidate. Throughout the give and take of an election I will look fairly at each candidate, however, I usually fall back to the foundation of my party to make a final decision. This is because my choice of a party took years of deliberation, lots of late night chats with esteemed peers, and some deep soul searching. When I came to my conclusion, it was based on my worldview: empowerment over enablement, state rights versus federal rights, human sanctity and the development of capitalism both here and abroad. Not to say that all of my worldviews fall neatly into a package that I have named my party…far from it. Rather that the issues that I esteem the greatest are the issues that are most represented in the party that I have chosen.
One of the first things I did, way back before Clinton dropped out and Huckabee was still a favorite to win, was visit the website of each of the candidates in order to understand their platform. At this point of my decision making I had yet to decide based on party or issues…I was merely gathering information. None of the candidates at that point, really popped out to me, rather I wanted to have some educated information to know which way I was leaning. Months later, after primaries and the like, the two candidates had been narrowed down. It wasn’t until the unusual, yet informative Saddleback Debates that I felt confident with a candidate. That was the first time I really saw the humanity of two men, rather than the rehearsed answers of speechwriters.
Between appearances on SNL and Hollywood-esque commercials a lot of the hype that surrounds politics is nothing but that…hype. I want our nations’ youth to look past charisma and politically fashionable clothing to see who can lead our country at one of the most crucial points in our nation’s history. Wars continue and are brewing, the economy is at the worst it has been in decades and education in our country is a joke. At this point one-fifth of our country’s voters are making a decided vote based hopefully on what a candidate offers by his platform and his voting record, not his or recent attempt at showbiz.
It’s the first time since World War II that the young adults of our nation feel the severity of the times that we live in. If you haven’t done so already please take a moment to click here and research both McCain and Obama’s website and platform. Make an educated decision based upon your worldview and standards that you believe in. Come November 4th have a candidate that you can place a check next to.