The Democratic Youth Strategy Council has concluded detailed analysis of 34 key primary states which had consistent exit poll data available. In our analysis, one thing was clear: Senator Obama does not have a significant problem with white-working class voters. In fact, despite repeated media narratives to the contrary, Barack Obama has a serious challenge with only one voting bloc, older voters. Senator Obama does not have a problem winning white voters, but he does have difficulty winning older white voters. He has no problem winning lower-income voters, but he does have a problem winning older lower-income voters.
While younger voters in every category (white, Latino, Jewish, low-income) are flocking to the Obama campaign, he is struggling with older voters in almost every one of these groups. Luckily, there is a way the Obama campaign can use the energy of it’s young supporters to close the generational divide...
This election presents the voters with a clear generational choice, and the generational divide is clear. It is critical in this historic election that our attention not be diverted by side stories and false media narratives, and that we have a serious discussion about the threads that tie us together, young and old, on the issues that matter. While our research examined primary trends, the same trends appear to be holding true with the general electorate in recent polls.
Most older Americans don’t have the same level of internet literacy of young Americans, and are therefore most vulnerable to the kind of fear-mongering smears being spread by the right about Barack Obama. Believe me, I hear it from my own grandma! When their friends tell them something is true, they often don’t have the same access to fact checking resources that younger Americans are accustomed to using. Even if they are online, many don’t know how to effectively Google something or where to find objective fact-checking websites in the slew of misinformation populating the web. And without a mastery of digital information, many older voters turn to word of mouth for information, in lieu of the more traditional resources to which they are accustomed. After all, Barack Obama’s religion and birth certificate can’t be found in the encyclopedia.
This is why family conversations are so critical. Among the legions of young Obama supporters, many would gladly give up a few hours of cold calls to have conversations with their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. And that’s how we start to close the generational gap. Because so many of the smears are spread in social circles, it doesn’t matter that we start with only the relatives of young Obama supporters. These types of conversations have legs, and the message will spread.
We highly recommend the Obama campaign immediately begin building a "family conversations" campaign to encourage their young supporters to help bridge this generational gap. With less than 100 days until voters go to the polls, it’s time for the conversation to begin.
Read the report and see the full research with graphs here.