Election 2000 had .
Generation X has proven to be pathetic in voter turnout decreasing almost every election. Election 2000 saw fifteen percent less voters than the 1996 Election.
" It was the post-Watergate period a cynical, drug-hazed youth turned off to what they saw as corrupt politics; the explosion of entertainment culture and a hardened, more cynical set of social mores combined to anesthetize and divert an entire generation from good ethics and social responsibility (I Hate Xers).".
Many Americans saw politicians and government as a whole as corrupt, scandalous, beaurocrats. Public trust in government had hit rock bottom, which began the trend of apathy among generation X. So began generation X's disengagement from politics. Another factor that contributed to the pathetic turnout was the declining number of young adults versus the floodgates of the baby boomer generation.
Generation Y is the age group coming of age in today's world, the 24 years and younger category which, for our purposes, does not include kids too young to formulate their own political opinions. According to a nationwide poll conducted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, college students are becoming more conservative as a whole. According to the study, 31 percent of college students identify themselves as Republicans, whereas only 27 percent claim Democratic affiliation. Generation Y is greatly underestimated in today's politics. Although Y's represent a much smaller portion of the electorate, times have changed rapidly and so will voter turnout in the youngest sector of the electorate. Currently, the United States is facing issues extremely real to young voters which can be summed up in one word War. America has seen it happen before during the Vietnam War. The whole generation of young men and women was creating unrest and raising political awareness, and changing the rules of engagement in politics on a national level.