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Nicknamed Gen Y, christened Millenials, or recently called a “youthquake,”18-24 year olds have been getting a lot of news media attention this political season. They’ve been featured prominently on the cover of Time, in the New York Times and on airwaves and the cable news networks. “Frustrated by feckless Washington, energized by the unscripted, pundit-baffling freedom of a wide-open race, young people are voting in numbers rarely seen since the general election of 1972 – the first in which the voting age was lowered to 18,” according to a Time magazine story, Why Young Voters Care Again.
“Young people are fired up about the 2008 election. This week we saw 3-million-plus voters under the age of 30 flooding the polls on Super Tuesday,” CNN reported February 8.
Said Jemmimah Wilson, 19, a political science major,” I think that youths were very apathetic about politics because they thought they did not have a say. But now they feel that they have a say, so they vote. Obama caters for a larger crowd, including the young adult population. He talks about issues that young adults can identify with and get excited about. He is a big reason why voting this year has risen in comparison to all the other election years.”
That increase may have inspired the New York Times presence on the Hunter campus early this spring semester. “In student lounges and hallways, they pondered how to cast their own votes to reflect the fresh perspective of a cohort for whom baby boomers are simply old people,” a reporter penned in a February 2 article, On a City Campus, Excitement and Uncertainty for Primary. “There was a sense that the up-for-grabs race had attracted their generation to politics as never before – particularly on the Democratic side, with the chance to vote for a strong black candidate or a strong female candidate.”
“Younger people are more open to multiculturalism, that’s why they are so excited about these candidates; there is a lot of diversity,” said Hannah Fleury, an Africana & Puerto Rican/Latino Studies major, interviewed on the 17th floor of the Hunter West Building. “I think young people will play a significant role in this election, more and more of the younger generations are voting and showing interest.”
Another comment by Fluery, who wore a short-sleeve floral print top and light denim jeans, reiterated what major news organizations have been reporting: Younger people “are excited about the potential of having an African American or woman President.”
Jennifer Hopper, an Hunter adjunct political science professor who studies the convergence of media and politics, said in a telephone interview, “When there is upheaval in the system, the media wants to see what young people think. The buzz word this year is change, and change has always been associated with movements of young people.”
Charlotte Cusmano, managing editor of the Envoy, an independent, student-run newspaper that started publishing in the 1940s, described a political ferment that might cause some to see a connection to the political agitation of the ‘60s but she insisted that the ferment this time is distinctly different. “I don’t see any interest as associated with the ‘60s” but it’s “cool” to be “political,” she said. Emails about ‘60s-style organizing protests as well as major efforts to organize protests are not very apparent on this campus, he said.
Talking about friends and associates and peers, she said, “I’ve seen more interest in this election, more interest than in previous years.” Students “are talking, are more involved” and more cognizant of news reporting on the primaries. “Most people in my age group love Obama,” said Cusmano, a registered Republican, at her parents urging, since she was 18. Her parents prefer Senator McCain but “think Obama is a great speaker.”
The U.S. Census estimated that there are close to 30 million people in the 18-24 age bracket and participation among young voters has been on the rise. According to the Pew Research Center, in the 2004 election, 49 percent voted, up from 40 percent in 2000. Pew also cited increasing levels of “civic engagement” among this voting bloc as well as members’ willingness to express political opinions, particularly on the internet.
Hopper said the media’s focus on students is closely connected to the active solicitation by the candidates themselves as they mimic the look and feel of the social networking sites on their own websites. This reporter was the subject of some of that focus in the Times piece providing in the Times’ reporter’s imagination an over 30 “long view” historical perspective. The Barack Obama campaign sends emails that appear to be written from candidate directly in a very informal, youth-oriented tone. “Dean’s campaign in 2004 was revolutionary” in the way it first utilized the internet to not only raise funds but to gets its message out, Hopper said. Four years later, candidates try to maximize their message using the web, some more effectively than others. With phone banking, volunteers make calls to potential voters on behalf of a candidate. “The Democrats specifically have been willing to give up some control,” said Hopper, whose dissertation was, “The Presidency and the Media in Crisis Situations.”
“Traditionally, phone banking involved going to campaign headquarters, getting a script and making calls while a staff member supervised.” Now, the candidates are putting faith in their supporters to make calls on their own time and even in their own homes. On Hillary Clinton’s HillRazers site, which is geared toward college students, supporters are invited to host their own “BYOP” party (Bring Your Own Phone) in their apartments or dorms.
Efforts by the candidates to engage college age students via the web may be working. According to Rock the Vote, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1990 whose mission is to increase youth voter turnout by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture in its activities, more than 25,000 people joined its Facebook group in the weeks surrounding Super Tuesday.
CIRCLE, the non-partisan Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, posted data estimating that over 3 million people under 30 participated in the February 5 primary. It also estimated that the vote was up in every primary state for which it had comparative numbers in 2000. Will the college vote have an impact on the general election? Hopper said that while it is hard to gauge the interest level of her students in the election, she has noticed more activism in terms of students volunteering and being more vocal about their activity. “If I had to make a prediction, I think turnout in the 18-25 demographic will go up this year,” she said.
Pollsters and pundits have categorized college students as an unreliable voting bloc, saying that they have short attention spans and a need for instant gratification. Even the U.S. Census cites the transience of young people as a major factor in their relatively low turnout rates. In analysis of the 2004 election, the Census results showed that a key difference between younger and older age groups was registration. Seventy-nine percent of people over 55 were registered while only 50 percent of younger people were signed up. It is also uncertain whether the energy that young people are imbuing in the race thus far will carry momentum – another favorite buzzword of this election season – for the next nine months.
While the increase in voting was marked in the 2004 election, it still fell short for John Kerry, who was relying on even greater college-age turnout to get him to the White House. Still if the upward trend of the past eight years continues and the Millenials do turn out en masse, the winner could face a new challenge: How to keep them engaged as president instead of candidate.
Kisha Allison and Kerryanne Burke contributed to this article.
The WORD’s Elizabeth Leonard can be reached at eleonard”@hunter.cuny.edu.