The Silent Generation

SPEND NEXT WEEKEND in New Hampshire and You'll be struck by the activism of today's youth; students will he trudging through the snow, knocking on doors, and manning phone banks for their favorite candidates. But wait until election day and you'll sec quite a different scenario-people from ages 18 to 24 vote less frequently, and follow races less closely, than any other American demographic group. What is more, young Americans are now avoiding the polls in unprecedented numbers, earning them the moniker "the silent group."

Young people represent roughly 20 percent of the nations's eligible voters, potentially a powerful voting bloc. Butut as yet their force has remained untapped--of the 28 million college students eligible to cast ballots in the last Presidential election, half did not register, and a substantial number of those registered did not vote. Almost 60 percent of American non-voters are under 25 years old.

Why have young people, characteristically energetic and concerned in other areas, forfeited their political power? Part of the explanation lies in their age itself--as Assistant Professor of Government Ethel Klein Points out, voting is a "habitual act," something you learn to do over time. The young are not politically initiated; often it takes two or three campaign exposures for them to get into the habit.

Moreover, though young people are generally more educated than older generations, they are singularly uninformed on current events. Surveys have shown that college students rarely watch the TV news or regularly read daily newspapers. In fact, according to a recent ABC study, nearly 80 percent of 18 to 25 year olds could not name a single Democratic candidate for 1984.

But their record of non-voting cannot be attributed solely to limited information, or political inexperience. Young people are less interested because they feel the impact of the federal government less directly-they pay no property taxes, send no children to public schools, and are largely unemployed. Young voters are more mobile than any other citizen groups, so their roots in their local communities do not run as deep as those of their counterparts over age 30 Less subject to government pressure in all areas, students traditionally have had little personal interest in selecting their next leaders.

Increasingly, however, students' direct interests are at stake. The Reagan Administrators has made a virtual policy out of hitting on groups with limited clout, with the announcement this week of wholesale cuts in educational aid for 1985, and the President's reiteration of the support of tying aid to draft registration, the attack on student interests has intensified. In 1980 financial aid to students was saved from the chopping block by the opposition of prominent Democratic lenders--but students today cannot afford to rely solely on a fortuitous coalition of congressional representatives. Today, like never before, students must lobby-with their minds and with their votes--to hold the hard-word advantages they secured years ago.

In the long run, young people must be made to understand, as minorities and women are realizing today, the extent of their power. As 20 percent of the voting public, they form a powerful interest group with the clout to make great changes in policy. With a heightened sense of solidarity and political activism the might oven help away close elections. President Reagan's margin in some states in 1980 was ordinated involvement of the young would have had a powerful impact.

But this is only if we can reverse the more fundamental obstacle to student participation: the growing sense of disenfranchisement and indifference among America's most potentially energetic citizens. The issues of the '60s and '70s raconflict, Victnam, and Watergate--loosened party ties and turned new voters against the political process itself, they led to a wholesale rejection of government, and to the feeling that cial voting was no longer a viable way of influencing the direct of federal policy. Their apathy is not because of ignorance but because of despair. "Students today feel very alienated from the traditional political system," says Beth Pardo of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG) "They see themselves not as citizens but as students, so they don't have to fulfill their civic responsibilities."

ONE WAY of trying to activate dormant student power is by increasing the visibility of registration drives, targetting campus populations for special attention. Such effort are underway today--in the local area, the Institute of Politics is hosting a "registration fair" next Tuesday, and MassPIRG is sponsoring its own registration symposium for Boston-area students next weekend.

It is difficult to tell how effective these drives will be so far, students have proven a difficult group to register In 1972, the League of Women Voters launched a national drive targeted at campuses across the nation, with little success Bur the media attention, and the attention from the candidates themselves, that these efforts will draw may help to get young people more excited about flexing political muscle--and that might just start the ball rolling towards greater participation Even if it is too late to recapture that trust of the last generation, there may still be time to involve the next one--and to ensure that the "silent group" finds a political voice