How to Get Kristina Seiger's Vote: A Young Voter Manifesto

As a 20 year old, female, first time voter there are several things that I am looking for in a candidate ranging from their stance on issues to their personality. I consider myself a very skeptical person to begin with so it’ll take a lot to persuade me to vote for a candidate. I will outline just a few of my criteria because if I went in-depth my printer would probably run out of ink about every little thing I look for in a candidate. I also understand that not every one of my criteria can be met and that I have to find a happy medium to be able to vote for anyone.

Equality

I believe that every person deserves to be treated equally whether they be female or gay or any other characteristic that people deem to be less than. Women are still paid less than their male counterparts and are not featured in the rule as government. Yet men in these positions find it necessary to make decisions regarding a woman’s reproductive rights. Not to mention that gay couples do not have the same rights as straight couples have. Gay rights have not come along even though they are people too. I find it disturbing that people can be voted into office even if they disregard an entire subsection of the population. Everyone should be treated equally and sadly this country hasn’t realized this yet.

Education/Jobs

The American dream is for parents to be able to send their children to college so the children can have a better life than what the parents had. This is becoming harder to do with the lack of financial aid that is provided for college students. The politicians say that they want to make it easier for working class kids to go to school, but how is that going to work out for all the rest of the middle class kids who are struggling. Now less financial aid is going to be spread out over a larger group of people. Then the politicians talk about how they want to bring manufacturing jobs back to this country, and does having a college degree really qualify them to work on a factory line? Meanwhile there are no jobs out there for people who do graduate with a degree and then they have to move back in with their parents and pay off all their debts. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be fixed and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Likability

The candidate needs to seem likable and honest. If someone flip flop from one day to another, how can they be trusted? They need to stick to their convictions and if they believe something they need to stand by it. Too often people seem to be above everything or they say something than do the opposite and then they seem unlikable. By being forthright even if their opinions don’t match my own is still worth more than someone lying and saying what I believe. If they can have a good time and seem more down to earth by playing a saxophone or singing shows that they could be a fun person and I would probably like them more then.

These are just a few traits that could make a candidate more likeable to me in the long run.  The candidates need to be able to work together towards a long term goal rather than just until the next election cycle. But I find these traits to be almost nonexistent and not talked about. So I primarily focused on traits find out in the open that drives my voting habits.

Kristina Seiger

Communication Studies

Wilkes 2014