I have been canvassing for Barack, in Boulder, a college town in the swing state of Colorado. This location makes us, and our efforts here, absolutely essential to the race. As you know, Colorado is a key swing state. Most of the state is Red, and the progressives in the Boulder-Denver corridor are the key to pulling it over to Democratic side.
But college students I have spoken to are exactly the same as I was ten years ago (and sometimes the way I am now!). They procrastinate. The good news is that it's okay, and there's an antidote...
Though college students I speak with tend to be liberal, they are also stuck in their own lives, and not all are as nuts for Obama as you would think. In fact, given the importance of this election, they are shockingly apathetic. Many have not registered to vote yet, days before the registration deadline in Colorado of October 6.
Said another way, good kids I’ve spoken to, thoughtful, articulate students, are not yet registered, and won’t register until someone comes up, pulls out a pad, and sticks it in their faces. Every time I go out to canvass, I meet a half-dozen unregistered students, and I know that every time I go out again, I will register another half dozen. In the same neighborhood, knocking on the same doors.
How can this be? Wouldn’t we run out of voters to register, you ask? A background in economics helps to understand what’s going on here. There are tons of students who don’t want to pay the "hassle cost" of registering, even though the demand curve for getting registered is almost vertical, like the demand for gas. In fact, the market for gasoline is the perfect analogy. No matter what the price, there’s always going to be demand for gas. People need to drive. Same with registering to vote. They need to do it, but every time you lower the cost (by showing up at the door, with a form, and a pen, and the willingness to fill it out right now) you get more registered voters. So getting the marginal registered voter to register is almost completely a function of lowering the price. Lost you? Let me put it this way: every time a new canvasser goes out there to get to people -- every time -- she will get about the same number of new registrants.
This theory of mine is supported by the facts. And the well-run Obama campaign here gets it. Getting these students to register, then to vote, is almost purely about getting in front of them. There’s no diminishing return! The good news is that it’s all on us. We keep going out to canvass, and we’ll get them to register. The ground game is everything.
So if you’re thinking about doing something, it’s not too late to volunteer. Get the word out. You will make a difference, even in 2 hours. Go, now, to your local campaign office. They will be thrilled to see you.