The 2004 presidential election saw the highest turnout of youth voters in over a decade, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). In this midterm election, many politicians, nonpartisan organizations and student groups are trying to maintain that vote by reaching out to youth in both proven and innovative ways.
Before 2004, youth voters had developed a pretty bad reputation for themselves. The 1996 and 2000 presidential elections saw a record low in youth voting — only 38 percent of people between 18-25 voted, according to CIRCLE. This was down from the all-time high 52 percent in the ’72 election — the first where 18-20 year olds had the right to vote. Additionally, polls find the youth vote in significantly lower numbers than the general population.
Why is this? Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE, said that the commonly held belief that young people are less interested in politics is not true. He suggested that the young are less inclined to vote because they are more “self-deprecating.”
“What you often hear them say is that they wish they knew more,” said Levine. “It’s kind of touching in a way. It’s not what you expect; it’s not ‘we don’t care.’ In fact, their answers are generally more positive [than older people’s].”
“Some of it is that we don’t ask them to vote,” said Joshua Ulibarri, vice president of the national public opinion and political strategy research firm Lake Research Partners. He described what analysts have referred to as “a cycle of neglect” and “a vicious cycle;” politicians don’t ask young people to vote because they historically haven’t voted very much and young people don’t vote much because they aren’t asked.
Ulibarri also cited reasons such as lack of confidence in youth that their vote will make a difference, a sense that politicians’ agendas don’t impact youth’s lives, and technical problems of not knowing how to vote.
Still, many groups see reasons to mobilize the youth vote for this election.
“We’re seeing a handful of politicians on both sides of the isle reaching out to youth,” said Kathleen Barr, national media coordinator for Young Voter Strategies. Young Voter Strategies is a non-partisan project that provides data on the youth vote and tools to mobilize youth. Barr said that politicians are reaching out to young voters because of their size and the “propensity to turn out the vote” that they demonstrated in 2004.
Ulibarri spoke from a democrat’s perspective on why young voters would be important in the upcoming election.
“As democrats, [young voters] are really important to us,” he said. “The young electorate is very change oriented, and democrats need to see change now to gain control of congress. They’re really important to maximize the vote.” Ulibarri added that youth was the only core group that John Kerry won in the 2004 election.
Jason Mattera, spokesperson for the conservative Young America’s Foundation said that young conservative voters were equally energized this election: “The young conservative movement remains strong and unparalleled in its activism,” he said.
Levine said that this generation of youth’s voting habits are still being determined. Referring to the last election, he said that the youth vote’s high percentage in 2004 could be the result of one of two things. One theory is that 2004 saw an unusual spike in young voting due to the controversy of the war. The other suggests a more positive trend: “It could be that new generation coming up is behaving differently than the Gen Xers,” he said. “If that’s the case, we should continue to see higher turnout as that generation comes into its own.”
So how are groups getting youth to the polls this year? After all, midterm elections tend to draw much lower numbers of voters, especially among youth. In 2002, just 22 percent of young people voted.
Both Young Voter Strategies and CIRCLE advocate peer-to-peer outreach as the most effective way to mobilize young voters.
Levine discussed the results CIRCLE arrived at after conducting a series of random mobilization experiments on youth.
“The basic story is that the more personalized the tactic, the more effective it is,” he said.
How do new tactics such as using online networks like MySpace and text messaging play into this? It’s hard to know yet, said Levine. However, he says politicians would be “making a mistake not to try it.” These methods, he said, have the ability to tap into the popularity of social networking, which he sees as a powerful new mobilizer among young people.
Ulibarri suggested a more issue-oriented approach. “[It is becoming] less and less important to talk about the vote itself and more important to talk about young people’s interests,” he said.
What are those interests? For liberals and moderates, Ulibarri listed the Iraq War, jobs and wages, and college affordability as the three big issues. More than anything, it is important to talk about change. “This is a very progressive electorate,” said Ulibarri. “Young people right now are very change-oriented.”
Barr added to this that youth interests often vary from state-to-state and among different groups of youth, depending on factors like the state’s economy.
The Young America’s Foundation is focusing on getting young conservatives excited about issues for the upcoming elections. Mattera named some important issues for young conservatives: “The first [issue] is defending Americans from the crazy Moslems who have declared a jihad against western civilization,” he said. “The second position we throw ourselves behind is robust capitalism.” He added, “Young people are energized, especially on the Right. Having Nancy Pelosi and her left-wing, San Francisco values lead Congress is very scary for normal people. It has mobilized young and old.”
Ben Unger, field director for the New Voters Project, said that politicians in general need to do a better job reaching out to young people. The New Voters project, sponsored by the Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) is developing an outreach model for politicians to follow.
Unger outlined several things politicians need to do. First, he said, they need to emphasize youth-focused issues. He said they should reach out to college students first, as they are the most easily reachable. Candidates should also have a staff person whose only job is to work with students. They should also heavily recruit campaign volunteers and staff from college campuses. “Finally, politicians should go to a bunch of college football games,” he said with a laugh.
Barr cited a couple politicians running for national seats who seem to be doing a good job of reaching out to youth in this election: Republican Mike McGavick, who is running for Washington’s Senate seat, and Democrat Patricia Madrid, currently New Mexico’s attorney general, who is running for congress.
McGavick’s communication director Julie Sund cited technology and campus outreach as two of the main ways McGavick is reaching out to students. Some of these technologies include a frequently updated website that features videos, a blog and speeches. He also has a page on MySpace, which Sund says has brought many youth to McGavick’s website.
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According to Sund, McGavick’s outreach has seen results: “Mike has a great network of college students all around the state,” she said. “We have over ten active Students for Mike! groups who are focused on voter turnout and educating other students about Mike's positions.”
Madrid is also focusing on the youth vote. “Young voters are absolutely important [to Madrid],” said Madrid’s spokesperson Heather Brewer. “So many issues larger issues that many voters are concerned about now, young voters were concerned about from beginning.”
Brewer said that Madrid uses a combination of “message and method” to reach young voters.
“The message is a message of change — changing status quo resonates with young people,” said Brewer.
And the method? “One of the best ways to get young people involved is to bring them on board, have them volunteer or join the staff” said Brewer. Madrid also keeps a daily blog on her website and sends text message updates to her constituents.
She added that Madrid’s district includes the University of New Mexico, and that students have contributed greatly to the campaign: “No-one has more energy than college students; no-one is used to getting less sleep.”
Brewer attributed some of Madrid’s effectiveness in reaching the youth vote to Madrid’s son, who is in his early twenties. “We have an advisor,” Brewer said. “He’s very involved with the campaign, and he keeps [Madrid] connected with younger voters.”
Barr described additional methods that are being used this election to mobilize young voters. Mobilevoter.org registers and mobilizes voters through text messaging. Rock the Vote has partnered with Facebook to enable voter registration on Facebook. Videos on YouTube have even influenced youth interest.
Young Voters Strategies plans to conduct an analysis after the election to determine which new strategies have been the most effective, but Barr said that it is hard to predict turnout numbers yet.
“Last midterm’s turnout was 22 percent,” she said. “We hope to increase turnout compared to that.” Still, she predicts that where nonpartisan groups and campaigns have reached out, there will be an increase in youth voting.
Levine emphasized what he saw as the bottom line: “Pre-election, politicians and parties need to reach out to young people. They respond. If you reach out to them, young people will react. On the other hand, they won’t vote if they’re ignored.”
Jamie Hansen is a senior at Oberlin College.
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Sources:
www.civicyouth.org
www.youthvote.org/
www.yaf.org/
www.studentpirgs.org/
www.newvotersproject.org
