Tyler Hayden’s Quest to Know Young Santa Barbara Voters

Understanding Younger Voters

In a decade of covering news, politics, and much more at the Independent, Tyler Hayden knows how much voting can affect issues big and small. In this week’s cover story, he surveyed younger readers from all philosophical camps to better understand what they are concerned about and why.

Why do younger voters matter?  Too often and to all of our peril, young voters’ voices get drowned out by noisy “adults” with too much time and money on their hands. I wanted to give a platform to a critical part of Santa Barbara’s electorate that, in my opinion, isn’t listened to enough.

Are you still considered a “younger” voter?  I barely missed the cutoff. But that’s okay — it’s good to have some distance from what you’re writing about. What’s not okay is I just bought glasses for reading and a pair of Crocs for gardening, and I’m not even 40.

Given the chaos in D.C. and elsewhere, is there any hope for America?  If we can keep the country intact long enough for Gen X on down to take over, I think we’ll be okay.