Youth Politics - Present

Present

Between the influence of mainstream media and politicians, youth politics in the United States has been illegitimated and deprioritized. Organizations such as National Youth Rights Association and The Freechild Project continue to advocate and educate for issues that affect young people specifically, while other organizations, including Youth Service America and Advocates for Youth work for issues that affect youth directly. The children's rights movement is widely credited with keeping youth politics on the national radar, while other fledgling movements such as youth voice and youth participation have yet to gain the spotlight.Even with the efforts of these organizations, many college students do not see politics as an important part of their lives. Only 33% of college freshman think being knowledgeable about politics to be important. Data collected in by the National Center for Education Statistics found that overall young Americans care more about entertainment and sports than political and foreign news. Despite these statistics there is a positive outlook on youth involvement in the future because of the 2008 election when President Barack Obama ran.

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