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SALT LAKE CITY – There have been many nationwide efforts to convince younger adults to get out and vote. However, a recent poll from NBC news says millennials might not be as committed to voting as many people would hope.
Pollsters with NBC News/GenForward say they interviewed people between the ages of 18 and 34, and out of those, 31 percent say they definitely will vote, while 26 percent say they probably will.
However, 23 percent say they’re uncertain, 12 percent probably won’t vote and 7 percent definitely won’t.
This is disappointing news to some millennials on the campus of the University of Utah. One says, “I really think it’s sad.” Another says, “This whole younger age group needs to get their voice out there.”
Political science professors aren’t exactly surprised by these results. University of Utah Professor Tim Chambless says younger people have always been the group that has the fewest number of voters coming to the polls. He’s addressed classes with hundreds of students and conducted his own informal poll about their interest in voting.
Chambless says, “Just days before the election, I would ask, ‘Who has voted early?’ or ‘Who is planning to vote?’ Very few will have voted.”
The students may change, but, Chambless says the excuses stay the same.
“I will hear the reasons that they’re too busy, they don’t know the candidates or [they believe] their vote doesn’t count,” he says.