If teenagers were able to vote, the 2016 presidential election would probably have ended very differently. Senator Bernie Sanders’s youth vote (people between the ages of 18-30) was higher than Clinton and Trump’s combined. With less than half of Gen Z identifying as “straight” and 80% of Planned Parenthood’s patients being 20 or younger, it’s reasonable to assume that a progressive candidate like Bernie would easily win the teen vote. Which is why Bernie is taking his liberal platform — which supports universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage, and higher taxes on the rich — directly to those teens.
Filled with infographics and illustrations, A Guide to Political Revolution will be a youth-friendly adaptation of Sanders’s 2016 book Our Revolution, which recounted his massive grassroots campaign to become the 45th US president. A Guide will focus on a number of issues important to young readers, including student debt, health care, climate change, and how to become a social justice advocate.
“Young people are the future of our country,” Sanders told Teen Vogue about the book. “As citizens of the United States, they have a responsibility to participate in our democracy and to help create a government which works for all, rather than just the few. This book will expose them to an unusual political campaign, the excitement of politics and what being a progressive is all about.”
Only 50 percent of registered voters aged 18-29 turned out to cast their ballots in the 2016 election. Politicians need to pay more attention to young Americans, and engage with us directly. Which is exactly what Bernie’s book looks poised to do. So hopefully, when 2020 comes around, we will all be even more motivated to show up at the polls.
A Guide to Political Revolution will be released August 29.
Credits
Text André Naquian Wheeler
Image courtesy Macmillan Publishers