By Madison Darmstadt
A Stonehill political science professor revealed that younger voters were not as active in the extensively covered and highly controversial 2024 presidential election.
"Younger voters have always been less involved with politics than older voters so that's not unique to the last election," sadi Peter Ubertaccio, who has 24 years of experience as a political science professor.
According to the Tufts Center of Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, only 42% of young voters - between the ages of 18 to 30 - participated in the 2024 presidential election.
This research also showed that in the 2020 presidential election 50% of young voters participated, showing there has been a decrease in the amount of political participation among younger voters compared to older voters.
"The older you are the more inclined you are to pay closer attention to politics and to vote," Ubertaccio said.
Colin Hargraves, a junior at Stonehill College agreed.
"We're just not as informed. With politics you need experience to understand how everything works which the older generations have," said Hargraves.
He said the younger voters may be interested in politics for the spectacle, however due to a lack of knowledge, they aren't necessarily interested in actual policy matters.
According to the American Psychological Association the low voter turnout among young voters could be partially attributed to the widespread culture of fear surrounding hot button topics. This fear stems from a lack of conversation and education about political issues among younger people.
Rob Pombriant, a Stonehill student who minors in political science, considers himself to be a part of the political stratum.
Pombriant read political news every day, trying to take in as much neutral and honest media as possible.
While Pombriant did vote in the last election he recognized that some of his fellow students did not, including Hargraves.
"Specifically for college students, it's hard to get a ballot out of state, even a mail in ballot, but in general a lot of young people don't particularly care about voting, they have political opinions, but they don't act on them," Pombriant siad.
Stonehill student Grace Robison, who voted this year, recognized that some of her college friends did not.
"I think, especially college students are just so busy. If you aren't passionate about politics to begin with, voting can seem like a hassle," Robison said.
She also said she believes college students should make a point to vote.
"Presidents are making decisions that are going to be impacting our future, so to leave voting to older generations who may not be around for that is doing a disservice to ourselves," said Robison.
Ubertaccio said it is important to vote and reminds his own college aged children to vote.
"There are certain issues where you see a surge in younger voters," he said.
Ubertaccio said that while there could be many reasons why younger people do not vote, the civic duty is important and should be practiced as much as possible.
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