Your meme won’t make me vote for you: An open letter to the presidential candidates

The candidates for the next president seem to believe that the only way to win the vote of millennials is to talk to us as if we’re idiots who can only read if the text comes in the form of a meme. And I’m sick of it.

Ted Cruz is just one of many presidential candidates to lack respect for our generation.

As a student in the Department of Political Science at JMU, I’m obviously interested in and intrigued by the upcoming 2016 Presidential election. I’ve been paying attention to the debates, rallies, speeches, controversies and campaign commercials that have flooded into our lives since last spring. Regardless of my interest level, I’m not one to talk about my political opinions freely and openly unless asked, or share them on social media. I don’t think Facebook is really the place for a 3-page double-spaced jab at Trump (even though we all wish it was). However, something mentioned at the Republican Town Hall on February 17th got me mad – more mad than this entire ridiculously painful election season has made me thus far. I have to say something, because there is an injustice being done by nearly every candidate – and one of these candidates is going to be our next President.

At the town hall meeting, Ted Cruz was asked about low voter turnout in the younger generation and how to get millennials more involved in politics. Cruz responded by asking, “Would it kill Republicans to crack a few jokes?”, and that his campaign has appealed to young people with humor and immature posters. This struck a chord with me, and not a good one. Newsflash people: millennials CAN be just as educated on the issues America is facing as the rest of the voters. We CAN and DO care about the future of America and we DO understand the absolute vitality that the 2016 election holds in our own futures.

I’m sick and tired of politicians like Cruz and almost all of the other candidates believing that the only way to appeal to millennials is to talk to us as if we’re all idiots who can only read if the text comes in the form of a meme.  It makes me absolutely sick that these politicians whole-heartedly look at our generation as a bunch of social media-obsessed wastes of space who only make political decisions based on who had the funniest one-liner in the last debate. If this election season has proven anything at all thus far, it’s that millennials do in fact care, and the real way to win our support is by talking about the issues we know are the biggest threats to OUR future – higher education, social security, tax reform, cybersecurity, terrorism, etc. The idea that to win the vote of a millennial means having the wittiest social media interns is offensive, and just goes to prove that politicians still do not take the younger generation seriously.

Well, 2016 Presidential candidates, here’s what I have to say to you: If you seriously want to win your party’s nomination and, even further, the November general election, start by listening to what millennials have to say. Hear about the problems we find most crucial to our nation’s well-being, and instead of responding with humor or satire or yet another worn-out jab at Donald Trump, take notes. Think about what’s best for your kid’s futures, your grandkid’s futures, and respond in a professional, serious, and respectful manner. The condescending nature of your efforts to appeal to millennials is getting old, and I know I’m not the only one to feel this way.

Good luck with the rest of the election. I can only hope that the conversation going forward will be open and worthy of every millennial’s respect (and just maybe, our votes, too).

Sincerely,

Megan King

Concerned, educated voter – and also, millennial.