Young Voters vs. The Democratic Party?

Sen. Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee largely because of unprecedented turnout by young voters in key primary states. (More data below.) Last week, walking around the speeches, panels and parties at the Democratic National Convention, it was clear that young voters are ascendant. Young people made up 16 percent of the delegates, a 50 percent increase since 2000, and they set the tone in a packed Mile High Stadium on the Big Night. The New York Times gives a flavor of how young people dominated the vibe:

In a twist on the normal convention finale, the prominent figures -- donors, elected officials and media celebrities like Dan Rather -- looked somewhat like the interlopers. Younger people dressed in jeans and shorts -- many not of voting age -- seemed decidedly more at home, as if they were attending an open-air concert and were fully versed in the festival ritual. The wave broke out in Section 338 just after Mr. Gore's speech ended and spread quickly around the stadium.

Justin Rockefeller, a youth voting advocate who has attend several conventions with his father, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, told me that this year's convention was the youngest he's ever seen. "From my memory it definitely looks younger -- not so much on delegate floor, but more so in the hallways and especially outside," he observed.

But all is not well with the youth vote.

Michael Connery, an analyst of youth engagement and the author of "Youth to Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority," worries that young voters were "seen but not heard" at the DNC:

Turnout among young voters in the Democratic primary was double the level recorded in 2004, and young voters broke heavily in favor of Sen. Obama. In the Iowa caucuses, young voters performed on par with the "reliable" senior vote, and were widely credited with providing Sen. Obama's margin of victory... Despite this unprecedented youth involvement at the convention, young people were more likely to be seen than heard by the delegates and party officials in Denver....

Most surprisingly, the one place young voters were completely absent at the Democratic National Convention was at the podium. During my four nights at the convention I did not see one young voter or youth organizer -- from CDA, YDA, SFBO or otherwise -- address the convention. Thursday at Invesco Field was no better. Not one young person took the stage that night.

These are important critiques. It's odd that Obama's team did not tout more youth stories and voices during prime time, since he needs to keep his young base energized for turnout. convention.

There was, however, at least one major youth speaker on Thursday night at the stadium. Ray Rivera, 29, a Colorado state director for the Obama campaign, addressed the 80,000 person crowd -- twice. He was promoting, naturally, a text message organizing program, which recruited 30,000 new numbers that night alone. There was a big map and everything. I followed up with Connery, but he was not impressed. He emailed from the Republican National Convention:

I don't count Ray Rivera's time on the stage. He may be young, but his purpose on stage was not to represent youth at the convention, it was to list build for the campaign. He was not there as an advocate for young people on the many pressing issues we face, and even if he were, one slot in four nights would still be skimpy representation considering what young people have done for Democratic candidates since 2006.

So there. It doesn't count and even if it did it's not enough. But that vision is a bit too cramped.

It is good that Obama entrusted his operation in a key state like Colorado to a young operative; just as it was good for Obama to put so much faith in young web organizers who upended U.S. politics with their online strategy, social networking and web fund-raising. Joe Rospars, Sam Graham-Felsen and Chris Hughes, for example, are all 27 or younger.

In many ways, empowering young people without putting them in youth constituency silos is better than just checking the youth box with some official speaker. Rivera had a huge -- probably nerve-racking -- role on the Big Night to actually do something in his official role, albeit related to the youth vote, rather than just giving a quick talk about how Barack inspires students.

There could have been more young speakers on stage all week -- and it will be interesting to see the contrast for Republicans in St. Paul -- but the text message addresses were a good start

Reader Update: There were several thoughtful comments to this post, including criticism worth reading, and I posted a short reply in the comments below...

For a full video breakdown of Obama's youth edge, here's a clip of a recent panel I attended on the Youth Vote in 2008:

Ari Melber writes for the Washington Independent, where this first appeared.

Follow Ari Melber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AriMelber

Comments

[foreffectivegovernment]

Is this really what we want? If adults are going to let the kids select the President, we should do something about this problem first.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=32204
Dumbing Down America's Colleges
Thursday, July 10, 2008
"The process that began in the 1960s to transform America’s elementary, middle and high schools into places where students could literally graduate without being able to read their diploma, where the teaching of mathematics was reduced to mush without rules, and where it was more important for students to feel really good about themselves than having to measure up scholastically with millions in foreign nations, has now reached the campuses of America’s colleges and universities."

Anyone who doubts the validity of this article should review the comments by the young college educated first time voters on this Blog.

[SSF]

All those people out there who are young and free right now better get informed, organized, and active right now or you may end up old, powerless and oppressed with no one but yourselves to blame!

[NickfromCali]

come 2010...young voters versus the California Democratic Party (ready to offer nomination to 77 year old Bush-ally-too-often Dianne Feinstein; second choice is out of touch 72 year old former governor Jerry Brown).

Art Torres must go!

[Bitsko]

Young folks are generally more conservative. Anything that makes them uncomfortable and seems out of the norm, disturbs their comfort zone. It's a basic protective instinct.

[walk0nwalls]

Dude, that is most definitely not the case, where have you found your young people?

Young people are pro-gay marriage, anti-iraq war and way into people-funded political campaigns. What young people are YOU talking about?

[izuka]

Based on what Bitsko was trying to say, I agree with truthskr.
The points you've made just drive on truthrskr's point. Young people are pro-gay marriage, anti-war and into people-funded politcical campaigns.
I am not sure if the last one is true or not, but for the rest, they show that young people are NOT conservative.
How do we even have an African American running for president today? Because the next generation, the Young People, are taking this next step into change.
And why are there so many who are anti-irag? Because now we are informed and they make the choice to go with the flow and support the war, or go against it and state their reasons why.
Pro-gay marriage. That's almost a given. Young people support it, while usually the older folks don't
So tell me, how does that make them conservative?

[izuka]

i'm sorry, I guess I was talking to the wrong person O_O
these blogs make me confused.
If anything, I would be arguing with Bitsko.
Oh maybe that's why your point about young people being conservative didn't make sense, because you weren't.
I'm sorry about this mistake.

[truthskr]

Younger people are more conservative??? Apparently, you've never been on a college campus or attended any non-religious party populated primarily by anyone under the age of about 40. It is actually older individuals in general who are more conservative, or grow more so as they age, have children, abandon the ideals and ambitions of their youth, and settle into their suburban comfort zone. I ask you to look at the demographics - look at the average ages of those supporting McCain, or even those who supported Clinton for that matter, in comparison to those who supported Obama. Now tell me again who's generally more conservative?

[peorgietirebiter]

I would hope this isn't lost on the Democratic Party in general. It's worth remembering that it's far easier and far less expensive to retain loyalty than it is to win that loyalty back. The Democratic Party can't afford to hope a Barack Obama will come along every few years to introduce the party,

[UnbiasView]

Wouldn't the NFL or NBA be exciting if it were played under progressive rules . . . no keeping score, if you are winning by a lot you give your points to the other team to be fair, no winners but more importantly, no losers?

[ecarolina]

For the record. I was at the Convention and as soon as I read your post I started thinking of this gal, who was fantastic:

http://www.demconvention.com/amanda-kubik/

Just the one I can remember off the top of my head. Maybe your source wasn't there for her?

[barackobama4prez]

I saw plenty of youth speakers...maybe they weren't organizers but they were there telling their stories about why they want to see the Dem nominee become POTUS.

[23000Days]

I am 64 this month, and believe me: My generation is both thankful and supportive of the up and coming progressive generation. Heaven knows, we tried to change the world and failed, due in large part to lack of dedication and attention, and here we are in this bizarre quagmire.
Yes, it is a hopeful sign that these bright young people are on our side. We just might finally see that change!

[UnbiasView]

You are hoping for more handouts.

[suzukimom]

We are hoping for a government that doesn't lie us into wars that destroy the lives of American servicemen and women and their families all while destroying millions of lives in Iraq.

We are hoping for government that holds fast to America's ideals such as the rule of law.

We are hoping for government that doesn't torture.

We are hoping for government that serves the people not corporate interests and their representatives.

We are hoping for government that insures every person is afforded equal protection under the law no matter the color of their skin, their race, their sex, their religious beliefs or their sexual orientation.

We are hoping for government that is competent and makes decisions, that affect people here and around the world, based on the facts, science and reason.

We are hoping for the America that we have held in our hearts even as we passed through the dark days of the last almost eight years.

Vote HOPE!

[VicDaring]

Patrcik Murphy, 34-year-old Congressman from Pennsylvania, got a pretty plum time slot at the podium.

Does that count? Is 34 too old?

[Bitsko]

Sounds like one of the good guys. So far.

Here's a little bit from Wikipedia:

On February 13, 2008 he was the only member of the House to vote against a resolution congratulating the New York Giants for the Super Bowl victory. “As a former 700-level security guard and lifelong Eagles fan, I couldn’t, in good conscience, vote for the New York Giants”, Murphy later stated. “The only thing worse would have been a resolution honoring the Dallas Cowboys."

[suzukimom]

Is 33-year-old Beth Robinson too old? She was the beautiful young wife of a US Marine, a stay at home mom who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis.

[JC1c1]

I am 26 and I think O did great at the convention. I thought the whole convention pretty much rocked it. Dennis Kuzinich blew my mind. He was one of the best speakers at the convention.

Sorry you are reaching here. I have several friends who are voting for O, and none of them were upset bc there was no youth speaker at the convention. That wasnt what is was about. That there was or was not a speaker, what it was about is that for the first time in our lives we feel like we are apart of something great. That Obama actually took the time to listen, he didnt write us off like most politicians.

Again you try to make this a story when there is no story. Ask any young voter, odds are that only 1 out of 10 would even think of voting for McCain.

[UnbiasView]

"for the first time in our lives we feel like we are apart of something great"

Sad 26 years you have lived thus far I guess . . . never put your faith in a politician buddy, you'll always be disappointed.

[Squirtapotamus]

Put your faith instead with cynics like UnbiasView. Their negativity is self-fulfilling prophesy.

[CintiBlue]

I rarely reply to your kind of remark, but you need to take you small, mean mind and try to expand it.

How do you know what this commenter has been part of? Maybe as a young adult this is the first time he/she is part of something personally chosen rather that recommended by a parent or school.

I, for one, thank the JC1c1 age group for their enthusiasm which I would bet got quite a few older people to look into who this young senator is.

To JC1c1 I say, I join you in your enthusiasm and I'm thrilled you didn't have to wait as long as I did to be caught up in such possibilities.

Obama/Biden 2008/2012

[mredder4]

1. All the young Republicans will most likely be at Ron Paul's convention, not McCain's.

2. We should allow the influence on this convention to help paint the next one. I for one don't think Obama would forget how much the youth vote helped him if he wins, and I'm sure he'd make it a point to have the next DNC include a stronger youth-vote influence.

Politics for the masses isn't an instantaneous shift. The Democratic Party can definitely use more youth in its image, but too much, too soon, will undoubtedly turn off some independent older voters. That's just society, you know. The old don't like what the young love. It's human nature, and there are more adherents to the rule than exceptions.

The Democratic Party should be using this year and this convention to build for the next time, and allow for a natural progression of the youth vote to the Democrats, rather than trying to re-write what is NOW to just appear being youth-oriented.

[jhNY]

Here's how young people can cement an important position within the styucture of the Democratic Party: Come out in November en masse and vote for the Democratic candidates on the ballot. The resulting victories throughout the country will not be lost on the party hierarchy, as what the party wants most of all is increased representation throughout the country, and a Democratic president. If the youth vote is large, the power of young Democrats will increase. Simple.

[MyTake]

Is there a point here?

The Clinton's devoted their adult daughter to the University circuit during the primaries and Obama countered with occasional University speeches and a strong Internet strategy.

Obama's failure in not exposing the youth voter enthusiasm was that he did not devote significant pages of his website to allow students and/or youth to pose questions directly to his campaign via internet webcam (and a Obama staff response).

Actually, only one exposure was needed which was this video http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xvDAiWWuvRg . The Texas State Republican administration did not set up primary voting at this all black school. What did the kids do? They marched in protest 7 miles to and from the nearest voting booth and blocked off the highway in the process. Running that video at their convention was all that Obama needed to do.

[ShanniC]

Prarie View had to stage protests and marches before because of this same politician! Ugh.

[jjasonham]

Everything that needed to happen at the convention was accomplished. Obama already has the youth vote and full support. Here's a very revealing article about the Millenial Generation's political personality.

Intro paragraph:

The sleeper development that was widely overlooked in the 2006 election was the 22-percentage-point margin of support given to Democrats by 18-29 year-olds, almost all of them members of the up-and-coming Millennial Generation. This was just the latest piece of evidence about a generation that has been trending progressive and increasingly voting Democratic in large numbers. But a comprehensive review of available data from a range of polls and surveys in recent years shows just how fortuitous this generation is for progressives. Millennials are emerging as an enormous asset for progressives going forward – as enormous as the sheer size of this, the largest American generation ever.

Full article: http://www.newpolitics.net/node/360?full_report=1

[veteran1964]

I personally have signed up over 1000 student voters for Obama in the last three months...I wonder how many Republican youth have signed up even 100 each. This is the year for the youth to vote and stop this Republican charge into infinity. Anyone that votes for McCain and Palin are total idiots and if they want to know why, just read McCain's history of voting and the history of the Republican party in the last 20 years....It sucks...