On November 2004, I was just a year younger that the required legal voting age. As a senior in high school, I felt that I had a great right (I felt superior because I was an upperclassman) to participate in our country’s most important decision: voting for the next President. I had a mini rant amongst my group of friends, as we joked about petitioning to lower the legal voting age.

Four years later, I am ultimately glad that I didn’t vote that year, for -- as a 20 year old -- I still remain clueless. I hate to admit it is hard to keep up with politics and current events because as a college student, I rarely have the time to even sit down and read a newspaper. Also, as the times are rapidly changing, students in my generation tend to look for the most accessible news sources. It is, therefore, really disheartening to read about the actual content in most news articles concerning this political process.

Professor William Benoit and doctoral candidate Mark Glantz of the University of Missouri gathered some information about the 2008 presidential primaries. They analyzed more than 800 articles from USA Today and they found that 56% of the content was about the ‘horse race’ aspect of the elections, things like polls and election results. Only 29% of the articles were about a candidate’s personal character, and 15% about a candidate’s policy on issues.

These figures mean a lot because in the end, they are what influence people to vote. Many people do still rely on newspapers for their news. If news sources merely talk about who’s winning the race, what does the election become? Something a bit more than a popularity contest? After reading this article, it is my greatest worry that voters do not know who and what they are voting for, especially young adults. These days, political campaigns target many young voters via networking websites such as Myspace and Youtube. If easy-access news sources only publish the ‘horse race’ aspect of the elections, where will we be able to find out candidates’ stand on issues – the most important part of voting?

Here is the link to the original article:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003717298