memes

Ever since 2004, those of us who have been involved in youth outreach have been annoyed, to put it mildly, by the constant parroting of the lie that young people are apathetic, and that they will not vote. No matter how many studies came out, no matter how many experts debunk this myth, and despite the fact that the last two elections showed a pretty significant upswing in young voters, the media seemed determined to parrot talking points that claimed that young people were not worth doing outreach towards, and many campaigns seemed to go right along. Well, it looks like we may finally have turned the corner in regards to this meme, as Time Magazine featured an article last week titled Reaching Out Early for the Youth Vote.

Even in a presidential campaign that has started as early as this one, Heather Smith couldn't have expected she would already be so busy. But "my phone started ringing the day after midterms and it hasn't stopped ringing since," says Smith, 30, the executive director of Young Voter Strategies (YVS). Her non-partisan organization, which she founded after the 2004 election with funding help from Pew and George Washington University, analyzes how to best mobilize young voters. That section of the electorate has traditionally been treated as an afterthought until weeks before the actual voting. But this time around top presidential contenders and political strategists are starting to focus early on the youth vote.
...
Smith's tips could be more important than ever in 2008. After more than a decade of declining or stagnating numbers, turnout among voters under age 30 increased by almost 5 million in 2004 and almost 2 million in 2006. Voting experts say this is because a new generation has come of age — the Millienials — and they are more civically engaged young adults than so-called GenXers were during the 1990s. The Millenial Generation — those born between 1979 and 1994 — is also three times the size of Generation X. They've voted Democratic in the last two elections and according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll released in late June, they plan to again in 2008. That poll found that 54% of voters under age 30 say they intend to vote Democratic. But 40% of young adults ages 18 to 24 describe themselves as Independents, according to an April poll by the Harvard Institute of Politics. Because of that, Smith says Republicans could still win the youth vote in 2008.

Welcome to the real world, Time Magazine! I hope you enjoy your stay!

I guess my only real question at this point is: why haven't our phones been ringing off the hooks?

My only question in regards to the article has to do with this quote:

"Nobody in either party thinks that the youth vote is not worth paying serious attention to and spending money on programs to get them registered and turned out."

Really? I mean, I know that there are a few good progressive groups out there giving pretty heavily to youth outreach programs, but the Democratic Party seems pretty incapable of reaching out to a younger audience. But hell, maybe they've turned that corner too.

It looks like Empire Zone, the blog of the New York Times, is fully prepared to repeat the mistakes of 2004.

I'm not even sure that blog is the correct word - all comments at Empire Zone need to be approved by an administrator and may be "edited for length," a rule that makes no sense on the internet where ink is free. Lame.

Anyway, Damien Cave is mistakenly reporting that young voters are cynical to the point of being apathetic, and casting doubt on the turnout achievements that us millenials have made in 2004 and 2005.

You'd think he'd be a little more careful since the mainstream media so spectacularly botched reporting of young voter turnout in 2004.

I've left a comment on his blog. We'll see if it gets approved. And if it appears "unabridged," or if they Bowdlerize it to suit the tastes of the Times.

Go leave him a comment and help set him straight.

Update: My comment is up. (unedited), and Damien Cave emailed me to discuss the turnout/reporting issue. I'm waiting to see if he'll let me post our exchange.
Update II: I've been very reasonably asked to keep the emails private, so no posting tonight. However Damien has promised to follow up later in the week w/r/t this issue once he's actually slept for a few hours. So more on this later.

In response to the post I wrote a few weeks ago about the changing narrative around young voters, I received a call from Ivan Frishberg, who sits on the board of Young Voter PAC and the advisory board of CIRCLE. Ivan wrote to me to both confirm and elaborate on my thesis: that the media narrative surrounding young voters has changed and is reaching a potential tipping point this November. In our conversation, he painted an enlightening picture as to how and why the media misreported youth turnout in 2004, and why that narrative is finally changing.

In Ivan’s recounting of the 2004 election, it begins with a strategic plan executed by a coalition that included the New Voters Project and the Youth Vote Coalition. This plan had two goals:

1. Get campaigns to realize the importance of young voters and, consequently, spend a more proportionate share of their campaign warchest to reach young voters; and
2. Improve media coverage of young voters.

The cornerstone of this strategy was the accumulation of reliable data about field work aimed at young voters. Metrics.
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