Key to Future Electoral Succces: Young Voters!

It started as an independent study to kill some "easy" credits and score an "easy" A in the spring semeter... 120 pages later... I have become convinced that Young voters are a vital group that has been continually ignored by both parties (give or take some minor and ineffective pandering).

The 2004 election, was a decent step towards future youth turnout...

Youth turnout was up however not enough to make an impact on the electorate... remaining at 17% for the second consecutive cycle...

more south of the border

CNN exit polls  show that young voters are solidly voting in the Democratic bloc, whcih means... we just need to mobilize them.

Even southern young voters performed well for Kerry in 2004... While all other age groups in the south went for Bush by 60% young voters supported Bush under 55%...

Here is a brief list of assumptions we must move away from:

*young voters are uninterested
*young voters are only swayed by flashy rock concerts and celebrities
*young voters only includes students

Let's walk through this for a moment shall we...

The most difficult age to vote at is between 18-22.. students have a difficult time and must vote absentee, which is in and of itself a problem... non-students are essentially difficult to identify and target so they are ignored... A party that makes a strong effort to register and mobilize these voters will have success in turning them out...

Second it becomes pretty difficult for young voters to become interested in the political system is their issues (which are the same as everyones.. Irag, economy, jobs etc...) are ingored. Candidates and parties should make an effort to talk to young voters like voters... Groups like Puff Daddy's "Citizen Change" do nothing more than create cynicism among young Americans.

Thirdly... the value of creating a young voter system... YOUNG VOTERS AND ACTIVISTS ARE THE FUTURE OF OUR PARTY! In the 1960s the Young Americna Foundation(YAF) and College Republicans understood this concept and mobilized a conservative youth elite... look what happened those young conservatives of the 1960s are now running this country (into the ground but runnin git nonetheless)... This is where we need to make inroads...

The interenet and the blogosphere are becoming essential to this pursuit however we cannot let our candidates and party elites continue to go about pandering to young voters instead of making an actual effort to mobilize them.

Crossposted at: The Blogfactor