Bill Clinton once said: "When people think, Democrats win." That statement likely has some validity: after all, if voters were to actually examine the statistics behind which major political party has done the most to improve the living standards of middle-class Americans and ensure equal opportunities for everyone, Democrats would come out ahead every time.
Unfortunately, however, emotional narratives often trump hard reality. The fact that the TEA Party movement--an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already"--is able to draw any media oxygen whatsoever despite the fact that 98% of Americans received a tax cut this year is evidence enough of the insufficiency of mere facts. Drew Weston's recent book, The Political Brain--a must-read for progressives of all interests--demonstrates this point with even more certainty. While Democrats seek to persuade voters with facts, statistics and numbers, conservatives play to emotional narratives that reinforce existing ideological perceptions. This not only makes their voters more committed to them, but also creates a smooth, coherent narrative that can appeal to the 20% of the population that is actually persuadable.
Democrats may not be able to count on people "thinking" to be able to win elections. But there's one thing they could do much better than they're doing now: connecting to and turning out the voters who are already receptive to their facts and narratives. And who are these voters? The youth.
Becca Doten is California's only elected member to the Democratic National Committee who qualifies to be a Young Democrat (age 35 or under). In a recent article on the Huffington Post, Doten outlined the specific importance of reaching out to young voters:
Issue polls show us that young voters are progressive voters. A recent Public Policy Institute of California study found that Californians age 18-34 support marriage equality 66% to 49%. Republican political strategist Dan Schnur wrote a column in the LA Times last week citing a poll that young voters - regardless of race - opposed denying services to undocumented immigrants by a 20 point margin. Schnur wrote, "age has become the primary factor determining opinion on illegal immigration in California."
And young voters don't just support progressive causes; we support the candidates who champion them. The aforementioned PPIC poll also found that Jerry Brown leads Meg Whitman 44% to 30% in voters aged 18-35 and "younger voters prefer Boxer (56% to 30% for Fiorina)." This is night and day from the results of the polls of all likely voters, where these races are neck-and-neck.
The young voters of America are in a unique political position. Our America is increasingly tolerant and welcoming of other races, cultures and orientations--despite the last, violent gasps of a movement chiefly contained to a region that for so long has been on the wrong side of all our advances in the arena of social justice. We are progressive. We do not share the longstanding prejudices of the many generations that came before. And we will vote our progressive consciences--just as soon as we get off of Facebook.
And therein lies the problem. Young activists--as well as the young voters that young activists are supposed to turn out--are caught in a vicious circle. Because a young vote is a statistically less reliable vote compared to our older peers, campaigns do not spend nearly as much time and resources engaging the inherently progressive youth who may not be the most politically aware. For more local campaigns with limited resources, that decision does make a certain modicum of sense in the short term--but it doesn't help solidify the progressive values of what should be a core Democratic constituency.
That would be tolerable if that lack of short-term outreach were overcome by a significant long-term strategic investment at the national level in turning out young voters, solidifying our generation's progressive tendencies, and recruiting young activists to be the future leaders of the Party. Currently, however, that investment is not being made at the proper level. In California, for instance, Young Democrat and College Democrat clubs essentially function as independent entities who are mostly, if not solely, responsible for their own fundraising, outreach and voter turnout programs in their local areas. There is not as much connection as there should be with the California Democratic Party, and very little outreach at all from any national organizations or Party Committees.
The Republican Party, however, has well-connected youth outreach efforts--not so much designed to turn out young conservative voters, because that is generally an oxymoron, but rather to bring young conservatives with talent into the fold of the Republican Party and provide them with the leadership opportunities they need to hone their skills. The RNC, for instance, sends out fundraising letters on behalf of its national College Republican organization, and the RNC's Young Eagle program has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. The Democratic Party would likely never have this problem, if for no other reason than a Young Democrat organization would likely never find itself that close to a DNC expense account.
It would make sense for a Party to invest in the demographic groups that identify most closely with it, and there is far more the Democrats could be doing in this regard at a national level. As Doten says:
There is no silver bullet that will turn out young voters. As with every other constituency, it takes a strategic effort and focus of resources to reach young people. Ensuring young voter turnout, and in turn ensuring Democratic victories, means more than paying us lip service. It means including young voter outreach in campaign plans and investing resources in turning out our demographic. It means having young supporters play an active role in campaigns by reaching out to millennial voters with a message that resonates on a peer-to-peer level. Young voters need to understand their stake in the election, that their vote means something to their lives and that the candidate is someone who will fight for what they believe in - which is a progressive, positive agenda.
There are many things that could be done to make accomplish some of these objectives right now, such as a strategic investment in Young Democrat organizations; investment in online and mobile voter registration technology; promoting early voting locations on college campuses; and a dedicated youth outreach program for national and statewide campaigns, just to name a few.
When young people vote, Democrats win. We just need a little reminder--especially if it comes by iPhone.