OP-ED: The Conflicted Millennial Voter
In most elections, there are three types of voters: the Republican voter, the Democrat voter, and the undecided. However, in this election, there’s a fourth type of voter, the conflicted millennial voter (“CMV”). The CMV is caught in an ongoing, internal tug of war between party loyalty and fear of what their party loyalty could do to their country. As a result, CMVs have found themselves in the middle of an existential crisis over who to cast their vote for and how to quell the growing list of pros and cons of each candidate.
Heading into the presidential election, pundits, scholars, and strategists alike swore up and down 2016 would be the Millennial’s Election. Millennials would single-handedly be able to decide who would occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four years. Subsequently, the Millennial’s Election would instead turn into the election of the conflict voter as voters on both sides find themselves in a catch 22 between two polarizing candidates in a country flailing about on the world’s stage trying to catch its balance and remain strong in an ever-changing world.
The beginning of 2016 showed much promise, with multiple candidates on both sides of the aisle. It truly was an election year that energized and focused on millennials. With an abundance of choices and hope to find a new and improved commander in chief, 2016 was off to a great start when it came to engaging the most fickle voting block in American history, the millennial.
As the months dwindled and primary season began, America watched in horror as the race for the White House became a spectacle of global proportion, thanks, in large part to a reality tv star and real estate mogul, who hijacked the Republican ticket and steamrolled over more-qualified opponents. Looking back, even the most viable GOP presidential contender did not stand a chance against a guy who dominated the news cycle and managed to stay above the fold on a daily basis.
Nevertheless, on July 22nd, real estate mogul Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination and forced some millennial GOPers into a yuuuge identity crisis, torn between their desire to send Hillary Clinton to prison and voting for the candidate who has the qualifications to keep America safe. Millennials have found themselves at a crossroads at a time when the Republican party is undergoing a silent, but public, ideological shift. Like an unruly teen bucking the system and testing boundaries, the Republican party does not look like it had in the past. In fact, the argument can be made that, by today’s standards, both Nixon and Reagan would be considered liberal.
The lessons learned from this election for Republicans and Democrats alike will no doubt leave a scar in the history books. The truth is, the millennial generation are poised to be the biggest losers in this election. Not because they voted in droves and voted for the wrong candidate, but because they did not show up to vote on election day. Call it apathy, call it disenfranchisement, but the truth is that the candidates on both sides of the aisle have lost their luster with millennials, not because their promise of free tuition and building a wall paid for by Mexico was too much, but because neither side has stopped to engage the millennial on the issues that affect them every single day.
Neither candidate has addressed the millennial generation head on. Short of more than a few snapchat stories, Facebook posts, Instagram photos, and a barrage of tweets, both campaigns have focused in on the blue-collar worker, minority groups, and the female vote. Sadly, what neither candidate realizes is that the millennial vote encompasses all of those voters and then some. As it stands now, 2016 has created a new voter type and it is currently being occupied by the millennial generation, as they try to make sense of a presidential election and figure out which candidate would do the least harm to our country in the next four years. There is a good chance the CMVs will treat this election like Tinder and swipe left on both candidates, leaving another election cycle unaffected by the largest voting group in history, all because the CMVs refused to abandon their beliefs just to exercise their civic duty.