In my opinion, almost every other election is more important than the presidential election, local elections being the most important. They affect the outcome of people's day-to-day lives and have more immediate results whether they're good or bad.
The 2018 midterm election deadline was this past week and I can't help but wonder how everybody voted and more importantly, why they voted the way that they did.
A 2015 article from the Hewlett Foundation posted a study by the Pew Research Center that found 61% of millennials get their voting information from Facebook (compared to 51% for Gen X and 39% for baby boomers).
On the up side, social media can offer a more varied opinion on politics and be a forum for debate. On the down side, it's way easier to be targeted by ads for a given demographic, as well as get into intense shouting matches that are anything but productive.
I already avoid social media fairly regularly, but come election time, the only time I check Facebook is out of a morbid curiosity to find out which friends from high school went in a totally different direction than I did.
As a quick aside, I think voting is important, but not nearly as important as everybody thinks it is. That's a topic for another blog post, but it's hard to feel like your voice counts when you voted every step of the way, only to have the thing you didn't vote for come out on top.
I did vote in the midterm election. I'm not saying my way is any better or worse, but my only source for voting information came from the voter's pamphlet and trusted websites that provide better explanations for candidates and initiatives. It's difficult to break through the intense legalese; like reading Shakespeare or the Bible.
Overall, try to be as informed as possible and vote your conscience, but losing an elections isn't the end of the world. Find out what matters and learn how to take a more direct action to make changes you want to see in the world
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