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Monday, July 8, 2019

Young voters hold the nation's future in their hands

BY STEVE SEARS
We are well into the 2020 presidential campaigning season. Like the Christmas holiday, it seems to start earlier and earlier.
With 16 months until anyone even casts a vote in the general election, speculation already is running high. We’re fairly sure the president is going to be the Republican nominee. But the Democratic Party still has a long way to go before its nominee is decided.
In the next 16 months, we will see polls and results of primaries and who voted
Keep an eye on how the young people vote. It foretells the future.
for whom, and after the general election we will also see many breakdowns of who received whose votes.
There is one statistic we need to pay close attention to, and it’s one that is seldom looked at.
After the votes have been counted and the dust settles, we need to take a close look at who the 18- to 25-year-old demographic voted for.  Like everything, America is evolving, and as the Baby Boomers continue to pass on, they are being replaced by the younger generation.  
Another way to look at this is: As the Reagan Republicans are passing on, who are they being replaced by? The answer will rest (uncomfortable as it may be) in the 2020 votes of the 18- to 25-year-olds. Some of these voters are not even 17 years old yet. 
Oftentimes we hear the cursing of my generation about this demographic and their sense of entitlement and poor work ethic, all of which is valid. But their vote counts the same as yours and mine.
As much as some don’t want to admit it, the Bernie Sanderses and the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezes out there are compiling an army of young voters of the Democratic Socialist persuasion. We can make fun of them and call them names, but that doesn’t change the fact that they still have a vote and it still counts.
Let’s take a look at this demographic.
The youngest was not even born when America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. They grew up with smartphones and the Internet at their fingertips. They get their news from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
But let’s be honest: None of us get the facts until they have been spun to fit the agendas of our favorite talking heads. These young voters are being raised by parents or grandparents who never knew the draft. With every generation that passes, we lose a little more of the discipline and patriotism that came with the sacrifices made for a greater cause.
It may seem trivial, but Taylor Swift, notably silent throughout the 2016 election, urged her 112 million Instagram followers to research their candidates and cast their votes in 2018. Keep in mind that not all of those 112 million followers will vote in 2020, but most of them will by 2028.
This is a very large number of young voters. Who will they vote for?
Unlike most, I am not firm on one side or the other. I consider myself an independent thinker and voter. There are things the Republicans support that I agree on as is there are issues the Democratic Party supports that I agree on.
So the way I see it is that we have two choices: We can continue to call each other names, which will keep us divided as a country and keep pissing off the 18- to 24 year-olds. Or we can start trying to work together to find common ground. 
By finding common ground, we will mend the division between the generations, and in the mending, walls will be broken down. That will allow education and unity to happen once again. 
This is just the way I see America evolving as we stand now. 
I am not telling you to compromise your beliefs or who to vote for. I am just showing you a few things that I see and how America is being reshaped. 
Don’t ignore the signs of the 2020 voter statistics when it comes to the 18- 24-year-old voters.

Steve Sears is a small businessman and entrepreneur in Cheyenne. He recently opened Elevate Group Training Studios at 1408A E 13th St.

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