Vote or Die! Youth Politics

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"Vote or Die". The slogan, short and sweet, also a bit ambiguous, certainly portrayed the message to young voters that not only did their vote count, it was a matter of life and death. In the 2004 Presidential election, that is. Traditionally, over time, the voting demographic of 18-24 years old has rarely come through for candidates who have hoped to appeal to them. Youth numbers have never been significant, and though numbers have risen in the past with a candidate like Bill Clinton (playing the saxophone on television, in sunglasses no less, couldn't have hurt his cause), they've always been on the low side.

A low turnout in young voters, though disappointing, is not surprising. For many young adults, politics holds no importance simply because a vast majority of the issues that cause such a debate don't have an immediate effect among their demographic. It's easy for a 19 year old to propose an argument as to why tax cuts proposed by a certain candidate would affect them. Though a tax cut could potentially affect their parents, kids don't often see the trickle-down effect it can have on them as well.

However, young voter turnout increased by 4.6 million votes in 2004, thanks, in part, to a little campaign known as "Vote or Die". With celebrities ranging from P. Daddy to Paris Hilton sporting "Vote or Die" t-shirts, to the GOP funding increased "Vote or Die" advertising in urban areas, the campaign was certainly in the public eye, and the youth vote made a strong appearance in the 2004 election.

Many Democratic candidates, building on the youth momentum built up in 2004 (which went largely in favor of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in the race against Republican George Bush), have targeted the young crowd once against in rousing speeches at college campuses announcing the importance of the youth voter, and the heightened use of technology to reach a tech-savvy age demographic. A strategical tactic used often sees many candidates (Democratic and Republican), pronouncing the importance of "change" in America, and the active role young people play in the road to change. Though too early to tell the role the young voter will play in the 2008 Presidential election, young men and women are making their political voices heard in ways not seen before in previous elections. The tremendously popular "Facebook" social network website, geared mostly toward the college crowd, has hundreds of Facebook groups devoted to all of the top Democratic and Republican candidates. One Barack Obama group, for example, has around 428,000 members, while an anti-Hillary Clinton group harbors around 700,000 members.

Political analysts across the country are both skeptical and questionable about the difference the youth vote will make for any given political figure this coming election. In 2004, the 18-24 year olds seemed to heavily favor Democratic candidate Howard Dean (as explained by Mike Connery on MyDD.com) in the time before the Democratic Primaries, and we all saw how far that got him. However, if the number of youth voters increases as it did for the last election year, I wouldn't be surprised if the youth vote made a truly significant impact on the elections, especially in a race as close as this years.

For more information on past youth voting statistics go to:

http://mydd.com/story/2007/12/28/14353/591

Further links:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/28/385582.aspx