A great story on the evolution of using mobile phones for marketing and politics, mentioning the survey that we conducted with Zogby International in October of 2004 of cell phone only users.

During the 04 election there was a lot of hype about how polls were unable to reach people, particularly young people, who don't have land lines. Its a growing demographic.

The unknown and still unanswered question is whether the population of people who don't have land lines think or act differently than those who do have them. I'd say the jury is still out on that, but it is possible. But is it an urban/rural split? A suburban/urban split? Not necessarily, in my mind...

But it was a great poll and it was part of our huge mobile voting campaign in 2004. We signed up 120,000 people for our text message campaign and registered thousands of voters.

The poll showed relatively similar results for young mobile voters and young people generally...

Health care reform for young people taking off!

Those of you who have been supporting Rock the Vote for a while now will know all of the work that we have done to promote improved access to health insurance for young people. One of the big proposals we have highlighted is allowing young people to stay on their family plans if they want to up to the age of 26.

Today's edition of CongressDaily, a Capitol Hill news report, has a very useful roundup of progress on this policy reform around the country. Here's to firm evidence that advocacy makes an impact!!

BEYOND THE BELTWAY: States Focusing On Health Insurance For Younger Adults
College student Michelle Morse carried a full course load while battling colon cancer because she could not afford to be dropped from her parents' health insurance and pay for her own coverage.
"She was going to school with a chemo pump attached to her hip and teaching classes," said Ann Marie Morse of her daughter, an aspiring teacher. She graduated cum laude from Plymouth State University in May and died in December, days shy of her 23rd birthday.
Her mother is now the force behind "Michelle's Law," a New Hampshire bill intended to help families with sick or injured college-aged children avoid her family's plight. It would allow college students to take a medical leave from school for up to a year without losing parental health coverage.
New Hampshire lawmakers estimate the law would affect up to five students a year. The measure is expected to have little impact on premiums, according to Larry Akey, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans.
The bill hit a speed bump Friday when the state Senate put off naming conferees until May 11. But since the bill has passed both chambers unanimously, and the governor supports it, passage is expected.
Michigan, Vermont and Maryland legislatures are considering similar bills; Maine enacted one April 4. But with one-third of 19- to 24-year-olds lacking health insurance, many states are taking a broader approach.
Legislatures in six states have raised the age of dependency regardless of educational status, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Recent laws in Colorado, Massachusetts and New Mexico cut off dependency at age 25.
In Utah, where many young adults take two-year stints as Mormon missionaries, a 12-year-old law cuts off dependency at age 26.
New Jersey is the most generous: Starting next month, children can remain dependents until they turn 30. That law allows insurance companies to charge up to 3 percent higher premiums for the coverage.
But in California, a bill cutting off dependency at age 26 was vetoed last year by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who feared the plan would burden small businesses and municipalities. The bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Democrat, did not pass with enough votes to override the veto.
Akey echoed Schwarzenegger's reluctance. Raising the age of dependency, rather than aiding only those in dire situations, might raise premiums, he warned.
"Our concern with that is the potential for what in the industry we call adverse selection" -- that only those with high health costs would opt for their parents' coverage, Akey said.
Legislatures in at least five states -- Connecticut, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Washington -- have measures pending to raise the dependency age in general and several others have bills dealing with mental or physical disabilities.
But current law is a roadblock for state efforts. The federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act exempts self-funded plans from state regulation, so about half of employees would not benefit from state legislation like "Michelle's Law," according to Gary Claxton, director of the Kaiser Family Foundation's Healthcare Marketplace Project.
Some state lawmakers, meanwhile, have cried foul over legislation sponsored by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Enzi, warning the measure might nullify the state efforts.
An Enzi spokesman said the bill -- designed to make health insurance cheaper for small businesses -- would not pre-empt state measures to raise the age of dependency or nullify state approaches that mimic "Michelle's Law."
But Jane Loewenson, director of health policy for the National Partnership for Women and Families, said Enzi's proposal is written broadly enough to encourage insurance providers to dispute state laws in federal court. "I certainly think we'll go to the courts under this bill," she added.

By Michaela May

Check out the fresh and new Youth Policy Action Center website! Its a great way to keep in touch with current issues in Congress that affect youth, brought to you through the hard work of Thaddeus Ferber and David Smith at Mobilize America's Youth. Nice work guys.

Update on that Harvard IOP poll: The progressive political analyst Ruy Teixeira writes a piece about how college students self-identified as liberal rather than conservative by a 2-to-1 margin in the Harvard poll...

A new Washington Post article about "the politics of students":

A new poll by scholars at Harvard University found that religion and morality are playing important roles in shaping the politics of college students of all political leanings.

More than half of students interviewed at schools around the country said they are worried about the moral direction of the country. But the poll, conducted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard, also noted that students were sharply divided along party lines over whether religion ought to play a strong role in politics and government.

Fifty-six percent of Republicans thought it should, but only a fifth, or about 20 percent, of Democrats agreed. The poll found that college students did not fall neatly along liberal and conservative lines. While the largest group of students was still traditional liberals (44 percent), the numbers of religious centrists (25 percent) and traditional conservatives (16 percent) have grown in the past year. The number of secular centrists (15 percent) has declined.

The study's authors noted that the religious centrists are a key group for politicians to watch. "Optimistic about the future and very likely to participate in elections, the Religious Centrists' views are characterized by a deep concern over the moral direction of the country that is likely influenced by opposition to Roe v. Wade and belief that homosexuality is immoral," they wrote.

Moving into real-world politics, the poll showed that college students have a more dismal view of the job President Bush is doing than the general public has, with only 33 percent approving. As for Bush's possible successor, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) each received 40 percent support in a presidential matchup.

Get the full poll, press release, and related documents at Harvard University's Institute of Politics webpage.

"Today we march, tomorrow we vote," is how one of the organizers of yesterday's nationwide demonstrations decribed his vision for the movement to the Washington Post.

I walked down to the national mall yesterday here in Washington. It was amazing: everywhere you looked, young people. Teenagers, young workers... A real demonstration of youth power! I don't really believe that youth are apathetic in the first place but anyone who does should have been there to see the spirit alive in these young people. It was their day.

If you are a youth activist and want to get more involved, try the Center for Community Change's "youth campaign".

Campaign strategists focusing on young voters: In 2004, we set out with our own ambitious goals of registering 1 million young voters and increasing turnout by 3-5%. When the dust settled, we had registered 1.4 million and turnout spike up more than 10%.

While the credit goes to the young voters who got serious about the future of their country, there were many, many organizations that played a big role in sparking the fire. Our strategy always was to persuade the major institutions---the Republican and Democratic Parties, the presidential campaigns, the media, the non-profit campaign organizations---that young voters should be a target, that they can be reached with a little investment.

The success of our youth vote coalition in making the case to these major institutions has a lot to do with the amount of time and money that was spent to include young voters in the process. Bush and Kerry fought over young people. Young people responded by turning out in droves.

So now here we are in 2006 and we have to start it all over. Here's an article about how the process is unfolding.

The nation’s youngest voters — those age 18 to 24 — have for years participated in elections at much lower rates than those for the general public. And since political strategists develop their campaign plans to go where the votes are, they have generally put little emphasis on getting young people to the polls.

But those truisms of American politics may be changing. With both parties giving a modest boost to their efforts to attract the 18-24 crowd, young voters’ participation in the 2004 election showed an 11 percentage-point increase over the 2000 election — their largest four-year increase since the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21 in 1971.

Polling done after the November 2005 elections for governor of New Jersey and Virginia showed youth turnout jumping in certain student-dense precincts too.

Now, with the 2006 midterm congressional campaigns gearing up, various political consultants are pinpointing young voters as major targets.

Rock the Vote is worldwide. Did you see the article about the Mexican election that is underway? We were contacted a while back by a group of young Mexican political activists about how to start something like Rock the Vote for their own presidential election. Its good to see that they made some progress. Our hope is that before long we'll be able to help set up Rock the Vote campaigns worldwide.