Can youth lead?
by Miki SaxonKelly, our esteemed editor, loves to challenge us in order to keep us relevant and interesting for you, our readers. Her latest effort involves teaming disparate blogs up for posts on a common topic. I was paired with Eric over at Common Sense PR and our topic is youth and the upcoming election. Check out his specific ideas on getting out the youth vote, as well as mine on whether it will happen this time.
No one can predict with certainty how much influence this cohort will have on the coming election. After all, youth-backed candidates have faltered before. (Ask Howard Dean.) But the so-called echo baby boom has size on its side: nearly 43 million people aged 18 to 29, according to the Census Bureau, or 20% of registered voters. That and this group’s hyperconnectedness (all those Facebook friends and MySpace pages) have convinced many pundits and economists that something seismic could be coming.
Youth has numbers. Youth has opinions. Youth has passion and enthusiasm. But the real question is does youth have follow-through?
The Boomers marched, protested and rioted, but they didn’t pull together and vote—if they had they might have changed the course of history.
They could have done it again in 2004—the numbers, opinions, passion and enthusiasm were all there—it just didn’t show up at the voting booth.
3 out of 5 (59%) report that they will “definitely be voting” in the 2004 general election for president.
In the last election [2004], evangelicals made up 26 percent of the electorate, and 78 percent of them voted for Bush—not just voted for, but elected.
Did millions skip voting because they didn’t like the choice? If you don’t vote you can’t complain, that’s the rule.
I think that young voters need to understand that there are two kinds of voting—
- for a candidate
or
- against a candidate.
In the first, you not only vote, but also add an active voice, formally or not, to your candidate’s campaign.
In the second you cast your vote for the person most likely to keep the candidate you detest from winning.
Getting people in general to actually vote is much like herding cats and young people don’t seem to be much different.
Are they? How much do you think the youth vote will impact the Presidential election?
Your comments—priceless
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January 21st, 2008 at 5:53 am
[…] Saxon questions whether youth have follow through. It comes down to finding a way to convince young people that if they don’t have a candidate […]
January 21st, 2008 at 9:11 am
We live in a college town in NH and saw many young people registering to vote for the first time. Generally we see quite a few of them at any of our state and national elections, but not so much the local ones. (NH is one of the states where they can register on the spot on voting day.)
When I wonder if our youth can lead, if they have enough follow-through, enough understanding of the issues, I listen to my grandchildren. Then I also remember the youthfulness of many leaders of our country when it was first founded.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:29 am
I think that the youth of today is more engaged in politics and what is going on in the world than in recent years – I think that the internet and blogging have played a part in that. Issues seem more intimate and the ability to influence seems more possible. Blogging, youtube, social media, all give youth a chance to express themselves and get an audience for their views – which is empowering.
I think the youth of today have a lot of concerns about the world they are inheriting – terrorism, global warming, shaky economy, loss of jobs – I believe they will get involved and will lead. They have been raised much more independently than generations past – they believe they have a place at the table and a right to an opinion – and I think they will use it.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:40 am
Mary Emma, I probably should have titled it “WILL youth lead.”
January 21st, 2008 at 9:57 am
Liz, You could be right, but Millennials are also known for their short attention span and desire/need for instant gratification. All the new media connectedness won’t matter if it doesn’t translate to active participation—i.e., voting. Will they go to the polls if their favorite doesn’t win the primary? Can their attention be held for nearly a year or will it move on to something else?
The Boomers faced many of the same concerns and they expressed themselves with passion and protests, sound and fury, but it didn’t translate to actually voting.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:57 am
Liz, You could be right, but Millennials are also known for their short attention span and desire/need for instant gratification. All the new media connectedness won’t matter if it doesn’t translate to active participation—i.e., voting.
Will they go to the polls if their favorite doesn’t win the primary? Can their attention be held for nearly a year or will it move on to something else?
The Boomers faced many of the same concerns and they expressed themselves with passion and protests, sound and fury, but it didn’t translate to actually voting.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Miki- the youth vote is fascinating for all the reasons you stated- I find that my three daughters, who can all vote, keep me in check because of their ability to bring passion and emotion into the equation. They also receive much from my analytical perspective and my attempt to separate emotion from how policies might play out. A good discussion among more mature voters and youthful voters can benefit both.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Generally speaking, discussion between voters of any age usually involve a) one person trying to change the other person’s mind; b) people on the same side of the fence discussing the nuances of why their view is correct or c) each person pontificating their own viewpoint, assuming that their ‘rightness’ is so obvious that it doesn’t have to be sold or not giving a damn what other participants think.
I love these kind of discussions—as long as they’re accompanied by at least one good bottle of wine:)
January 28th, 2008 at 3:01 am
[…] week as part of the Odd Blog Couple, I wrote Can youth lead? and over the weekend I had an interesting email discussion with Jim Gordon over at […]
January 28th, 2008 at 7:31 am
[…] it comes to voting, does youth matter? Leadership Turn Common Sense […]