Punch-Drunk From Watching the Polls? Blame Today's Youth

Well said Aimee. I am 29 year old Iraq veteran who is trying deal with PTSD. I also can not use my college benefits to finish my schooling (twice delayed by 16 month deployments) because the school can not get the US Army to pay my bills and the bills of other Vets. that we have earned from the blood, sweat, and tears from multiple deployments. Benefits that John McCain does not want to increase because he claims that these benefits would make many of us service members leave the service.

I can tell you that many of the young men and women I lead into and out of Iraq are questioning the leadership in this country. We are more informed than most people give us credit for. I think we are going to surprise a heck of a lot of people because we are the ones who will have to live with the decisions that this administration has made 20-30 years from now.

To anybody reading this post who will not vote for a person because of his skin color, get a freakin' clue! Learn something from the men and women serving this once great nation. In my 8 years of duty to this country I have met kids from Wisconsin, Montana, and North Dakota who had never met a minority (in case you are wondering I am Latino) in their entire life and wind up becoming really good friends with that person of color after they get to know him/her. Yeah, we know that in most cases we have no choice but we also know that our very own survival might lie in the hands of that person of color standing next to you. This lesson can and should be applied to the "real" world as well. My troops would be the first to tell you that I would anything for my fellow soldiers be they white, black, or brown. I always believed that one of greatest tragedies in the world was instantly dismissing a person because of the color of their skin. People who do that run the risk of denying themselves the greatest experiences that life has to offer. So that you know I was an independent leaning towards McCain until he sold is soul to the many former Bush surrogates now controlling his campaign to try to win this election. I guess he forgot one of the seven Army core values of integrity.

To all the folks who take the time to read this post please check out Aimee's post. I will pass it along to all my fellow "young voters".

Sgt. M of NY 4:17PM September 17, 2008

Um, OF COURSE the youth vote overwhelmingly support Obama. I'm 25 and I would argue that my generation has felt the burn of the last eight years the most and thus is most motivated to change it.

WE are the ones who have fought to afford college only to graduate with thousands of dollars in student loan debt and no available jobs in our chosen fields. (Or our next-best chosen fields. Or a different field entirely. Or McDonald's.)

WE are the ones who feel the brunt of the Iraq war, from watching our brothers, sisters, parents, and classmates deploy to having to schedule courtships and weddings around deployments and stop-losses.

WE are the ones who are "ageing out" of our parents' health insurance only to discover that we can't afford or don't qualify for our own policy. Also see "lack of available jobs," above.

WE are the ones who are in the market for new homes and new cars, yet can't secure a loan because of the abysmal financial sector.

WE are the ones who are in our peak reproductive periods, yet are being told by the current conservative administration exactly what we can and can't do with those bodies.

WE are the ones who have the most opportunities to travel before "settling down," yet can't go anywhere because of the high price of gasoline or the skyrocketing charges from the airline companies.

WE are the ones who want to start families, yet are terrified of bringing children into a world where global warming "doesn't exist" and the environment is not only on the back burner; it's off the stove entirely.

WE are the ones who understand that any solution to the oil and gas crisis needs to be a long-term, well-thought-out plan, not a temporary stop-gap fix (again, see "future for our children," above).

PLEASE wake up America! Obama/Biden '08

Aimee of PA 1:39PM September 16, 2008

I cannot believe that people cannot see how crazy it is to vote for MCCain for president because he chose Palin. She is not ready to lead this country, and odds are in her favor that she will be our president. Middle America is going to do much better under Obama'a administration. We will have lower taxes, health care insurance, and he will is much wiser when it comes to foreign policy. He plans on making education more affordable and will lead the country to oil independence. Think people, Think!!!!

C Berry of TX 11:17AM September 16, 2008

Question: Why is it that every time I see a national poll, it’s of mostly White women and White men? Do Blacks and Hispanics not count in this election anymore? Maybe it’s just me but because of the uniqueness of this year’s election, I would think that the Black and Hispanic vote would count even more.

For those who may not be aware, Hispanics are now the “majority” in a good number of states in the U.S. and that combined with what all indicators point to as record African-American turn-out at the polls (as was in the Primaries), I would think that this little fact matters a great deal; but judging by national news outlets and polls, these voting blocks are not even worth being reported on.

If Barack Obama and John McCain are in a statistical tie, in what I’m almost certain are majority Anglo polling processes, then when you add in the African-American and Hispanic voters, it stands to reason that those votes just may turn the tides.

So I hope the pundits and pollsters keep underestimating the Black and Hispanic vote and keep trying to use “conventional” wisdom in an “unconventional” election year. I just mailed voter registration cards for both my sister (who is 46) and my Aunt (who is 71) who both will be voting for the very first time this year. I hear this same story is being played out everywhere and just as I witnessed scores of Blacks and Hispanics standing in mile-long lines in parking lots after midnight during the Primaries waiting to vote, I believe that this story will play itself out once again on November 4th, in even greater numbers!

So keep misrepresenting and underestimating these voters. It is my firm belief that these voting blocks, along with record numbers of the youth vote and first-time voters, just might make the difference in this year’s election, even if the pollsters and pundits don’t think they matter!

Dee Evans

Dallas, Texas

Dee Evans of TX 6:21PM September 15, 2008