DISQUS

Emily · 1 year ago

So, now that the election is over… whose vote was most important?
Throughout the election season, news organizations and political analysts talked non-stop about who would vote for whom. Would the black vote swing the election for Obama? Would woman that had supported Hillary Clinton be swayed by Sarah Palin’s presence on the Republican ticket? What about the youth vote?
On election night, CBS devoted a pretty long segment to working class white voters in Ohio and how they had swung the election there to Barack Obama.
But, no one seems to be able to agree on whose vote mattered most.
MSN says youth voters were non-essential. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27582147/)
U.S. News and World Report says they made all the difference. (http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-20...)
I called Project Vote, a youth voting initiative that works with organizations like Rock the Vote to organize youth voters, and the spokeswoman I talked to said she thought discussion about how much the youth vote had meant was silly.
“Of course I think the youth vote was important,” she said, “and the suggestion that it’s not is ridiculous. Every vote counts.”
And I agree. Maybe the black vote made a bigger difference than the youth vote. But if the youth hadn’t voted, would it have been enough? For the media to suggest that some votes are more important than others is not only foolish in a society where many people already complain that their votes are meaningless, it’s untrue.
Every opinion should matter, regardless of color, age or class. And each and every voting bloc contributed something to this election. According to the U.S. News and World Report article, 19 percent more young Americans voted than did in 2004. That percentage, whether or not it was the one that eventually tipped the election for Obama, is a remarkable one, and the media should treat it as such.