WASHINGTON, DC – There was some distressing news from Gallup earlier this week. Voters will be staying home in droves this year, according to the polling organization.
Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American, says that it is not a good thing. “You’d think that with all of the hoopla surrounding the 2016 Presidential Elections, voters would be particularly energized this year. But Gallup says that its survey shows only 69% of the electorate say they will definitely exercise their right to vote come November. In fact, an astounding 72% of respondents in its poll say they really haven’t given much thought to the election.”
Weber warns that by not casting their ballots those non-voters are, in effect, opting for the candidates proposed by the “other party.” He says it also diminishes our respect for good government, undermines our representative democracy and makes us weaker as a nation. In addition, he adds, elections are meant to unify the country by allowing all eligible voters to have their say in who shall lead them and by not voting we create a deeper divide.
“This year, more Americans want a change in the direction our country has taken in recent years. They want to take back their ability to control their lives as our forebears did in the good old days when the Constitution was considered an inviolable document that made our democracy the envy of the world. Voter apathy is a threat to all of that.”
It has been reported that young Millennials and their immediate predecessors who were called Generation X constitute the largest voting bloc in the U.S., having taken over the spotlight from Baby Boomers. But the Gallup poll indicates that only 47% of younger voters say they will definitely get out and vote in 2016, down from 58% in 2012.
Thus, Weber says, older Americans can still lead the way by example and he is calling on the members of his influential senior advocacy organization to do all they can to invigorate the nation this November.
“AMAC was founded by a membership determined to make a difference, activists who believe that all is not yet lost. We need to get out the vote. We need to urge our voting age family members and friends to prove that the graying of America, where 10,000 of us turn 65 years of age each day, is a good thing. Perhaps it will also show new voters how to exercise their most important right and their most profound responsibility. One thing’s for sure, it will also show the world that the U.S. is not in decline; that we are on the rise again.”
