The Pathetic Turnout for Midterm Elections

As most Americans know, last week was midterm elections. Little did most know, however, that it was the worst voter turnout in 72 years. Yes, you read that right. America had almost the same percentage of voters in 2014 as it did in 1942, which was when the country was in the middle of World War II. The country had a total voting percent of 36.3% compared to 40.9% in 2010. In a nation that prides itself in being able to vote, why did less than half of the citizens vote? 

In an article I read in the New York Times, the reason given for this incredibly low turnout are "apathy, anger and frustration at the relentlessly negative tone of the campaigns." This article argues that neither the Republicans or Democrats gave voters a real reason to vote; Republican's campaigns strictly opposed President Obama, and Democrats didn't release any plans for the future or show the effect of their changes over Obama's presidency. However, I think the greatest reason for this extremely low turnout expressed in this article is the negative ad campaigns. The intention of a negative ad campaign is to highlight weaknesses in your opponent, but the downside of these campaigns is that generally people don't like the tone of the candidate. The result? People not voting at all. I can see how this is true because I hate ad campaigns as much as the next person. It leads me to think about the candidates themselves. Why don't candidates talk about all the things that make them qualified? I know that I would like to see the candidates accomplishments, beliefs and plans for the future. Wouldn't that be better than pointing out perceived weaknesses of your opponent? 

This article lists only a few of the reasons people didn't vote at midterm elections. As a young person who is almost eligible to vote, I'm concerned with what the other reasons are. To be honest, I don't really pay attention to politics or feel knowledgable about the subject matter. I wonder if other young people feel the same way I do; do people feel disconnected to politics? From what I understand, there are two political parties: democrats and republicans. But there are also plenty of people who are in the middle of the two (the middle ground). The gap between the two sides has widened over the past couple of years, moving further and further away from a middle ground. The extremism of both sides of the political party have made it so that politicians can't work together for the common goals of the average person. This makes politicians less relatable to the real world, potentially causing less people to vote, especially those who are caught in this middle ground. I feel like this is another major reason why people didn't vote, especially for young people. What do you think is the main reason people didn't vote in the midterm elections?