Generation Change
No wonder Rush was scared.
After running the brilliant "Remember Your First Time" GOTV campaign aimed at single women , Women's Voices. Women Vote. is reporting that single women were the single largest change-voters in the country.
Yep, more than any other group, unmarried women voted for Democrats.
CNN's exit polls show that 66% of unmarried women voted for Democrats, compared to 62 % of unmarried men; 49 % of married women; and 47 % of married men.
But wait, (as if everything that has happened in the last two days isn't cool enough,) the under 30 voter turnout in this election was the highest in at least 20 years.Rock the Vote reports young voters voted for Democrats by a 22-point margin, nearly three times the margin in other age groups. Reuters pointed out today: "Future elections could also be at stake. The "Generation Y" of Americans born from 1977 to 1994 -- shaped by the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina -- in nine years will make up a third of the electorate." All of the sudden I don't feel so nervous about the future.
We saw with this election what it looks like when our country works the way it is supposed to. Americans proved we can only be pushed so far.
And, it looks like, in large measure, we have the single women, and the younger voters to thank.
I heard a story yesterday that got me choked up (this election was emotional, wasn't it?) about a MoveOn.org volunteer making GOTV calls on election night and a phone conversation he had with a single mom. The women had just returned from work, the polls were closing in 20 minutes and she was tired. The caller encouraged her to vote, and after a long pause she sighed and said she would because she knew the country needed a change. They hung up. Another volunteer asked, "Do you really think she will go vote?" and the man who had made the call said, "Yes, I think she will."
Later that night, the MoveOn caller got a message on his cell phone from the single mom. She wanted to him to know she took the kids to her polling place and voted. But mostly, she said, she wanted to thank him for encouraging her to vote, because she felt really good about it. Imagine how good she feels today.
If the pride, empowerment and optimism we have right now can stay with us, imagine all the good that we can do and all the progress we are going to make now and down the road. Change is not only within reach, it's inevitable.