November 6, 2012 — a significant date that approaches more quickly than many would like to admit. On this day, Americans will elect our newest President of the United States. Fortunately (or unfortunately), as that date draws nearer, the candidate pool gets slimmer, and many are taking a close look at who is left. President Barack Obama (D) and Massachusetts Senator Mitt Romney (R) are the frontrunners currently for the election, and both are looking to appeal to the younger generations of voters at some point in their campaign. Here is a look at both of their platforms on important issues and how easy it is to register to vote.
President Barack Obama’s biggest focus, judging by his re-election campaign website, seems to be on America’s foremost concern, the economy. He signed the America Invents Act, allowing entrepreneurs to bring their inventions to the market soon which would subsequently allow for more businesses to enter the market. He also created the National Export Initiative which intends to double exports of our goods by 2015.
Obama supports more homegrown efforts and a high-technology homefront to compete with the global market. Taxes will be raised for the upper crust and maintain at a steady rate for the middle and lower class workers. As recent as a couple of days ago, Obama publicly admitted to an evolution of opinion on gay rights. Though he still believes it is up to each state, he supports gay marriage and equality (just in time for North Carolina’s vote to make gay marriage unconstitutional).
Education is also a priority to Obama. He intends to reform the No Child Left Behind Act and raise standards for K-12 education, while already almost doubling investment in secondary education. His website does not contain any standpoint on the Afghanistan War.
Mitt Romney’s website has many more of his standpoints than Obama’s, but his main efforts are also geared towards the economy, with the Afghanistan War and foreign policy being a close second. He intends to reduce and stabilize federal spending while making an across-the-board twenty percent cut in marginal rates for individual taxes. His ideals for labor and trade are all about freedom: free enterprise, free choice, free speech, and renegotiating the business relationship with China. To safely exit the war between our troops and the Taliban, he wants to ensure the training of the Afghan forces through communication with American military commanders — all of which depend on the support of both the Afghanistan and Pakistan government.
Romney believes in marriage solely between the opposite sex and plans to enforce a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution, keeping marriage heterosexual. He supports a world class education for Americans and proposed a scholarship in Massachusetts that gave the top twenty-five percent performers of each high school full tuition for any Massachusetts institution. He wants all states to work on education reform at an individual level than at a federal reform.
Many of the younger voices have strong opinions but are not registered to vote. Keira Crowther, a second-year fashion marketing major, says, “I’m not registered to vote at the moment, but I definitely plan to be before the election. It’s just a matter of getting home to register.” Luckily, people are trying to facilitate voter registration to encourage voting.
Rock the Vote is a nonprofit organization geared towards younger Americans that has an online process for registration. It has registered over five million of its targeted audience over its twenty-one years as an organization and constantly updates its website. The Department of Motor Vehicles also encourages voter registration by giving everyone the option of registering when renewing licenses. There is no extra fee or form to fill out.
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