The election year is beginning in earnest. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are competing for the Democratic nomination, and Donald Trump is realizing he may not be the Republican making America great again. You may ask yourself, so what do primaries and caucuses really mean? Well, these primaries are quite significant because they take the pulse of the American voting pool. The first-time voters of this election can turn out to be the make-or-break votes for the candidates.

For the Democrats, Clinton is gunning for the Millennial votes as she realizes the importance of the young demographic while Sanders rakes in the votes of the Millennials almost effortlessly. The Republicans have Trump as a frontrunner among Millennials, but Trump narrowly lost Iowa to Ted Cruz. One of the reasons Trump lost the Iowa caucus may have been the low turnout of Millennial voters; USA Today reported the median age of participants at 38.2 years.

The power the Millennials yield is evident in the results. Since the median age bracket of the caucus was outside of the Millennial generation, the results make sense. Clinton had a narrow win over Sanders, and Cruz beat out Trump, showing that the Baby Boomers still have a hold on the majority vote, but Millennials are slowly creeping up. The Iowa caucuses may not determine the future president of the United States, but they certainly will help—the low turnout of Millennial voters may be a harbinger for the November election. If the Millennial votes do not turn out, then the Baby Boomer generation will decide the president for our generation, which might not be in our best interest.

Most of the young voters today say that “Oh, our vote doesn’t count!” Or that “Oh, I don’t know who to vote for, I won’t vote.” No! A million times, no! This year, the Millennial generation has finally outnumbered the Baby Boomers, and this means that it is time for us to take over. It is up to us to decide the future of our country—whether it be Sanders, Trump, Clinton or Cruz. As Patti Smith said, “People have the power.”