Okay, so that blog post title may not be entirely true, but according to some of the stats that are being reported, voter turnout for the 18-29 crowd really jumped this year. Considering that most young voters favored Obama two-to-one, there may be some semblance of truth in my blog post title after all!
I thought it would be interesting to play the "fly-on-the-wall" and do a lot of listening around the classroom yesterday as I expected a lot of post-election chatter. I will tell you that I live in a very red state and there were a great deal of students (more than I expected!) who were planning to vote for McCain. Here's what was going on in my classrooms today:
9 a.m.--Guy recounts his evening at his place of work (I assume a bar or restaurant), mentioning how one guy came in whooping and hollering after Obama's win. He mentioned how one girl that he worked with was getting aggravated--not because of the Obama celebration--but because the whooping-and-hollering guy wasn't an American citizen. He's African.
When discussing the electoral college, one girl says, "Why don't the McCain supporters move (spread out across the country) so they can get more electoral votes?" (She was joking, probably a little half-heartedly, though.)
10 a.m.--Classroom is strangely silent. It's usually a very chatty place.
11 a.m.--African student (mentioned above) shows up for class giddy & blasting an "Obama, Obama" song from his cell phone. He recounts his beer-filled evening: neighbors called the cops as he cheered in the front yard around 11 p.m. (he was alone) then he walked back into his apartment and blared the "Obama, Obama" song through his stereo speakers. He writes the total electoral vote on the board and "400 year of oppression are over." Other students giggle; they are used to his antics. They also sarcastically tease him about how they are so glad that prejudice has been completely wiped out of America in a single vote and how every American must have obviously been a bigot until this day. In true non-partisan form, we all join him at the computer to watch a YouTube video of the (fake) candidates having a dance-off (with a surprise guest appearance from Sarah Palin). At some point, someone mentions his non-citizenship status, but he says, "My wife and son are Americans, so that's enough for me." He even says, "I love America!" (though most days he spends classtime telling us what's wrong with the country compared to European nations).
From my guesstimation, most people in this class were McCain supporters. No one tries to start arguments or complain.
12 p.m. Other students talk about how they stayed up watching the election (and drinking, of course). One guy said "I just kept drinking because I'm a Democrat, but I voted for McCain because Obama scares me." He wasn't talking about the man Obama, but Obama political ideology.
Talk turns to media coverage (a likely topic in a journalism class). Things that were mentioned:
*calling states for a candidate when only two percent of the ballots have been returned
*how it was hard to choose between real coverage (CNN, Fox, ABC, etc) vs. fake coverage like Indecision 2008 (Comedy Central)
*breaking down every single exit poll by black vs. white voters (argument: no other ethnicities were mentioned and "I thought this election wasn't about race?")
*only cutting to the reactions of the African-American communities after the election was called (again, the argument that the media made the election about race)
Someone (of mixed ethnic heritage herself) asked how a person of mixed ethnicity goes about choosing "one side or the other" when determining race.
(I must mention, these kids weren't being racially biased. They really were frustrated with a society that says "don't see people in black or white" but then basically reports everything from a "black or white" perspective. This was particularly confusing to them as black and white Americans will soon be in the minority compared to the Hispanic population.)
1 p.m. Girl comes to class wearing her Obama shirt that she picked up in California. "Wasn't it great?" she asks with a smile. Another girl (a Caucasian, since we're breaking down by race again) mentions being angered by an African-American guy who didn't seem to care about the historical significance of the election,. She also mentions how she was almost brought to tears herself by images of Jesse Jackson crying at the Obama post-election rally (she didn't mention Jesse Jackson by name--I'm not sure she knows who he is--but this girl is not the emotional kind).
Looking back over the semester, McCain supporters were much more likely to discuss politics in class while Obama supporters were more visible, wearing Obama t-shirts and put "Vote for Obama" buttons on their Facebook pages, etc. I'll leave it to the political parties to determine all the psychology behind those behaviors.
For now...I'm just glad the election chaos is over because I have a lot of homework to do! :)
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