For all Americans and probably most Canadians, the next four years will be remembered as the years of President Donald J. Trump.
Republican candidate Trump was elected Nov. 8, 2016 after beating out his democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Depending on whether a person is conservative or liberal they might have different opinions on Trump. Regardless, Trump encourages more people to pay attention to politics. He has led more young adults to turn to social media for their news, and lastly is gaining votes due to false media.
Although some young adults had not been taking Trump seriously before election, now that he’s president it has become a different story.
While Trump did not have more millennials voting for him than Obama, he definitely has our attention. According to civicyouth.org Trump had only received 37 per cent of young (18-29) voters during the elections, while Obama had received 60 per cent of the young voters in the 2012 elections. Although Trump had received 37 per cent of the votes from the young voters, only 50 per cent of the 48 million young people voted during the elections. Meaning only 17.5 per cent of young people voted for Trump in the 2016 elections. Showing just how little young people had wanted Trump or even took him as a serious threat.
Although the exact numbers are unclear it is evident through social media that 18-29 year olds in U.S. and Canada are now taking more of an interest in Trump.
Trump’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts add to a total of 42.1 million followers on social media. It is this participation on social media which has engaged so many Americans and Canadians during and after the election. While many people follow Trump for electoral updates, many people follow him to see what outrageous or salacious statement he will come up with next. For example, Trump’s recent comment about Meryl Streep after her speech at the Golden Globes stating, “Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..” this tweet received 39 thousand retweets and 125 thousand likes and was trending on Facebook.
However, a negative aspect of Trump’s involvement with social media is the fact millennials use social media as a news outlet. The consequences of this, is the reception of false news. Millennials are potentially collecting their political views from the social media, something baby boomers are less likely to do, since statistically boomers are less involved on social media platforms.
With more millennials being of age to vote, social media can have a negative effect on the election results because of being misconstrued from Facebook, Twitter, etc. Facebook has even started an initiative called the Journalism Project to deal with false news on its platform.
The future elections are in the hands of millennials as they outnumber the baby boomers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is important younger voters have the correct information, and not rely on the power of social media to come to a decision.
With the results of the election, it is clear to see that more 18-29 year olds are participating in politics, and social media is the outlet.
Hopefully this outcome will encourage more millennials to vote in Canada for the next election, after seeing how much power is in each citizen’s possession when voting for a nation-wide decision and seeing who could win when you don’t vote.
Editorial written by:
Jenn Amaro
Dean Daley
