The voting age should be younger, young people tend to be more open minded, amirite?

Openmindedness has nothing to do with it. Most young people have also not been in the real world long enough to know how the real world works. Most of them don't know what it's like to work for eight hours or longer a day and work hard just to spend it all on bills and food and income tax. And, yes, this includes my 17-year-old self.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

and they also tend to be more foolish. as a 15 year old, i dont trust myself to make that kind of decision, something that i wont even have to worry about because i dont pay taxes, own a home or anything like that. if anything it should be raised. people that arent even out of high school are allowed to make a choice like that, which is scary.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If your age demographic cries for Justin Bieber, you should have zero voting power.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Having been in high school for three years, I'm very adamant in saying that Snooki would most likely become our next president if that were to happen

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No. They shouldn't. Young people are open minded, sure, but they lack the knowledge. Most adults don't understand politics or economics-- why would adolescents? Open-mindedness does not equal intelligence.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

More empty-minded is more like it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They're so open-minded that their brains fell out.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Just no

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It depends. There are quite a few under voting-age teens that understand the world and politics much better than most adults. But there are also the absolute dip-wits who don't know their Hilary Clintons from their Julia GIllards.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

True though that is, those kids that know about politics and the world are definitely in the minority.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Seriously most adults have no ideas what's going on in the political world. The informed public is roughly only 25 percent. A lot of my friends only like certain candidates because they "seem cool" and yet have no idea whether they are even conservative or liberal. Furthermore, adolescents don't pay taxes and therefore should have no say in how tax money is spent.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Or they vote or don't vote for someone specifically because of their skin color...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They also tend to be more misled by the older ones whom they look up to

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No I don't think it should be lowered but I do know I'm far more damn open minded then most people

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You should not be able to vote until you can get a legally enforced job.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Exactly what I was gonna say, if you're paying taxes, then you deserve to vote

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Just imagine the number of write-in votes for Justin Bieber... Being open minded has nothing to do with it; it's about understanding what's going on in the world and what each candidate realistically can and will do about it. Being an informed voter is a lot of work, and I just don't think most people under 18 are up to the task.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hopefully they'll still be open minded when they come to voting age, but have more knowledge on current issues and hopefully less likely to be influenced what their parents think.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

What the others said - people under 18 are likely to either be influenced or forced to vote for the party their parents support. KEEP BREEDING EVERYONE! IN COUPLE YEARS YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN VOTING ARMY!

by Anonymous 13 years ago