Youth Vote 2.0

The outcome of the 2008 Presidential election changed history and gave hope to many young Americans because Barack Obama was elected the first African- American president on November 4, 2008. On January 20, 2009 Obama was sworn in taking over for George W. Bush. As I watched on TV along with billions of other people, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a sigh that finally someone would change the fate of our country that had fallen apart, finally someone who knows what he is doing. Over the next two years the man who once captured the hearts of the American people with his eloquent speaking and dedication to the people has come to resemble a teleprompter and the promises he made have fallen short of what he pledged.

“He has done nothing to help this country, I’m looking forward to a new president in a few years” said Steven Melrose, 21, from Portland, Maine showing his blatant disappointment in President Obama.

The 2008 Presidential election had a record number of voters, the youth vote being a Democratic majority because Obama connected with young adults. The youth demographic being ages 18-29, he gave the generation of youth a sense of hope and a chance for change, the feeling that change was possible. His slogan was the inspirational “yes we can.”

Obama was so popular that parents dressed their children in clothes with his face, bumper stickers lined cars, and many even missed school to witness the making of history with his inauguration. The man was so charismatic moms would camp out to get the chance to have Obama hold their babies, reminiscent of the days of presidential celebrity like John F. Kennedy.

“Kennedy represented a new face of Washington, a young youthful guy, vitality,” explained Professor Varon of The New School.

But within the two long years that have passed from when young adults rushed out to vote making sure that Palin and McCain did not stand a chance at winning, young people have fallen silent during the recent Midterm elections. The Republicans won the House with 239 seats while the Democrats still hold the Senate population with 51 seats to the Republicans 46.

In 1971 the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 making the bracket for what was considered the youth vote significantly larger. In 1972, 25 million people were eligible to vote for the first time. While youth were activated and suppressed in their voting habits throughout the 1950’s, the early 1960’s showed new promise in encouraging the young people’s progressive voting.

Professor Varon continued, “The 60’s was driven by youthful idealism. History of the 60’s was made by youth and politics was no longer only something adults did… The youth in the sixties mobilized. There was this large group of young adults who wanted to see a change.”

Varon also stated that “by the late seventies active youth completely declined” much like the difference in today’s participation in the Midterm elections compared to the 2008 Presidential election.

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) performed a pole and the results stated that, “an estimated 20.4 percent of young Americans under the age of 30 voted in the midterm elections, compared to 23.5 percent in the last midterm election (2006).”

However Rock The Vote, a non-profit organization, registered 300,000 new voters in time for the Midterm elections this year, a huge increase compared to 2006 that had 250,000 registered. Historically Midterm elections always bring in a smaller percentage of population votes then Presidential elections or major election cycles.

Candidates of the Midterm elections seldom did anything to make them appear to the youth demographic like Obama achieved in 2008. While Obama appeared at town hall meetings, went on talk shows, discussed his music preferences, and played basketball regularly, midterm candidates kept their running professional and didn’t take the chance to connect with the youth demographic.

When asked if she voted in the midterm elections, Diana Barton, 20, of Albany, New York said, “ No, because I didn’t have time.” But when asked about the presidential elections of 2008 she responded with, “Yes of course! I mean who didn’t vote in that election?” While her friend Allen Magnesun, 22, of New Jersey said, “Midterm elections? Didn’t know we had those.” In answering about the presidential election he said, “YES! Obama!”

Today social media outlets might be the most important aspects of campaigning because 97% of youth uses social media websites. A study conducted by Reuter Institute for the Study of Journalism reports that, “18-24 year olds receive most of their political information online and rarely read a printed newspaper or listen to radio for information.” #Election was a trending topic on Twitter, FourSquare provided an iVoted check in badge, and Facebook had an IVoted button. iPhones even had apps created by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal that monitored the elections live.

Pop culture played a significant role during the presidential elections as well. Saturday Night Live had a sketch where Tina Fey impersonated Sarah Palin while Amy Phoeler played Hillary Clinton. The skit quickly became one of the most famous and most viewed on YouTube in history. For this years midterm elections the skits were far less publicized, talked about, viewed, and were not as memorable. MTV used their Midterm election time slot to do a mock election with celebrities as the candidates such as Justin Beiber for Vice President of Pop, Maroon 5 for Senate of Pop, and the Jonas Brothers for Reps of Pop. An intern from MTV stated, “we just wanted to have fun with this election, we decided the 2010 should focus more on the music.”

Deva Woodley, a professor at the New School, said, “A certain energy is infused when youth is involved. It creates a cultural movement. Obama created a cultural movement. He was used as a figurehead.”

However one candidate, Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY), took some steps in motivating democratic youth by visiting universities in an attempt to rally the students to vote for him. Former president Bill Clinton joined Bishop at Stony Brook University urging students to share the message of the importance of voting with their friends on Facebook, Twitter, on YouTube, and through emails.

Heather Smith of Rock the Vote said, “These young people are willing to participate and be active by nature, but they are not going to show up unless they are invited.”