As the Democratic Party assesses the reasons for its historic failure this November, it may want to consider the views of the millennials who failed to go to the polls.

If you have lost a George Washington University journalism major, then you have probably lost the rest of the millennial generation.

Robin Jones Kerr, a senior majoring in journalism at George Washington University – one of the most politically active campuses in the nation – explains why she didn’t vote Tuesday in an op-ed in The Hatchet campus newspaper.

Jones Kerr, opinion editor of the publication, notes she was “jazzed” to vote for Obama in 2012 by absentee ballot the morning of that election. But this week, she acknowledged she didn’t know much about the issues, the candidates, nothing excited her to vote this year, and she stayed home:

Now, I would never tell a well-educated, politically active citizen to stay home on Election Day. But personally, just for myself, I felt OK about it. This year, nothing in particular compelled me to head to the polls – not a dynamic candidate nor compelling issue. And if I had voted just for the sake of being able to brag about it, that would have felt insincere. …

I’m registered to vote in Michigan, but only because that’s where my family lives. I grew up overseas, so I’m not really invested in Michigan politics and can’t even name our senators. …

Sure, maybe I should have registered in D.C. I’ve at least followed the mayoral election here, though mostly because I’m a Hatchet staffer. But when I saw Muriel Bowser, the Democratic nominee for mayor and eventual victor, speak on campus last semester, I found myself not really liking her as a person. (Sorry, Muriel.) So a desire to vote for her didn’t drive me to the polls, either.


 
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