Over pitchers of Bud Light and overpriced nachos, my coworkers and I gathered at a Greenwich Village watering hole to watch the latest episode of America’s new reality T.V. series: The GOP presidential debate.
Instead of your standard Vineyard Vine-clad frat boys and former economics club presidents, we were shocked to find a crowded bar teeming with NYC’s regular Thirsty Thursday evangelists. Man bun-wearing hipsters from the East Village, beer-swigging suits straight from Wall Street and NYU’s questionably underage all showed up to watch the debate.
Trump’s multiple gaffes issued drunken howls and almost audible eye rolls from the rapt 21 to 34-year-old audience. Glasses were clinked and beers chugged during the Christie/Paul debacle as if watching a football game. The wall-to-wall crowd eventually attracted a local news station, who felt it important to document such a large group of millennials actually giving a shit about politics.
Gen Y definitely rolled deep for this year’s GOP debate. Except, of course, at the debate itself. Between 10 presidential hopefuls and three moderators, not one 18- to 34-year-old was present.
Pass the Mic
Considering our $200 billion in spending power, our significant influence over popular culture, fashion and technology, our dominance of the American workforce and our potential to single-handedly determine the 2016 election, this is surprising.
We seem to be accounted for in every other aspect of the campaigning process. From presidential selfies and snapchat advertising to Twitter-based bid announcements, presidential hopefuls are almost trying too hard to appeal to millennials.
Yet we are curiously absent from every significant milestone leading up to each election. All 93 million of us are routinely left out of the political conversation, leaving us further disillusioned with the electoral process.
But we deserve a voice now more than ever.
As the poster children for underemployment and student debt, we too have fallen victim to the economic instability in this country. Coming of age in this inhospitable environment has chained us to our parents’ homes, delayed plans for marriage and children and robbed us of our ability to gain financial footing. We’re fed up, and we’ll be the first to tell you what needs to be fixed come 2016.
Our Take
Looking forward, we believe that millennials deserve a chance to directly interact with presidential candidates like Generation X and the Baby Boomers before us.
What do you think of Gen Y’s role in the 2016 election? Should there be a millennial moderator on the panel? Share your opinion in the comments below.
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