ABSTRACT
Every four years, as the presidential election nears, news media outlets return to a traditional storyline—the apathetic, uninterested cohort of Americans commonly called “Generation X.” Typically, such coverage begins with an interview with a 20-something, who claims to be “too lazy” to vote, and then recounts the decline in turnout among young people nationwide, lamenting their inattention and comparing them, always unfavorably, to the image of 1960s youth as active, engaged, and heavily politicized.
