With the pervasive, wandering, omnipotent minds of today’s young adult populace, it is imperative not to assume anyone’s political party. Without surprise, not everyone in the black community is democratic, and furthermore, not everyone is voting for President Obama in the re-elections.
What many students do not recognize or inquire about is the “why” behind such partiality. One of the biggest problems facing the re-elections is lack of knowledge about what is going on, on both parties sides: what they have accomplished, what they wish to accomplish, and international relations are a few topics that black college students have not educated themselves on.
As a result, young voters many times have little to no information about why they are voting for a particular party. This includes not only Mitt Romney in the Republican Party, but also the voters that support President Obama.
For the black students voting for Romney specifically, I believe it is from misinformation and frustration with the Democratic Party, in which their vote has moved to that of the republicans. From the black republican voters whom I have encountered on campus, I have been given a variety of responses.
One of these is that the reason for their political party obligation lies with their family. Unfortunately, for both young democratic and republican voters, after their first registration, their vote tends to be in alignment with that of their parents or family with no other reasoning behind the support of their particular parties.
Secondly, many black republicans belittle the work of the Democratic Party stating, “they have not achieved enough,” “that President Obama was not true to his word while in the White House,” or merely, republicans are better.”
Simply put, the black republican supporters, whom specifically are students, have been misinformed about the political race. Their perspective on the prospective presidential candidates has been limited by family, political mistakes of the past, and lack of information.
As a powerful, upcoming generation, and an influential part of the political process, students, especially black students, need to understand our economic, social, and international standing, in order to justly choose the right candidate to lead our country.
By Anayka Pomare
