Daniel Reiner
Contributing Writer
This year’s midterm election was marked by gains for Republicans, losses for Democrats and apathy for young voters.
Midterm elections historically do not draw the youth vote. Exit-poll data shows only 20.9 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 29 actually cast their votes this year. This is down from a 23.5 percent youth voter turnout from the 2006 midterms.
“I don’t really keep up with politics because it gets kind of annoying,” Kalyann Kauv, a VCU student who did not vote, said. “I should have, and I’ll try next time.”
The lackluster young-voter turnout is a tremendous change from the presidential election of 2008, which boasted a figure near 50 percent. A VCU poll from Nov. 2 showed that only 33 percent of students were planning to vote.
“Neither of the possible outcomes from this election would be in my favor more than the other,” VCU student Brian Arrington said. “Also, I had class all day.”
Arrington, like many other VCU students, is registered at his home address while attending school in Richmond. In order to vote he would have had to either get an absentee ballot or taken the time to go home and cast a ballot.
Some students from out of town have trouble registering to vote.
“I move around all the time, so it’s difficult for me to try to change my information all the time,” said Virginia Kennedy, a VCU student from Maryland. “It’s not really something I want to deal with currently.”
Students have different opinions on how the government should be set up and whether or not they can make a difference in voting.
“I feel like it decides the future of America,” VCU student Jovanna Wiggins said.” And I made a big difference.”