The Millennial Generation--A force in '08

An article on ABCnews.com today discusses some issues very close to our hearts here at Rock the Vote. In "Folly of Youth or Trove of Votes?" Jennifer Parker talks about the role young voters played in the 2006 midterm elections, the most effective strategies for targeting young voters, and the plans for youth outreach (or lack thereof) among the '08 Presidential candidates.

The article focused on the political involvement of the Millennial Generation--a demographic that made of 21% of the electorate in 2006, and is estimated to constitute more than a third of the electorate within the decade. And, they're more engaged with the world around them than their Generation-X predecessors:

"Young people right now are just way more engaged than they've ever been," said Heather Smith, director of Young Voter Strategies, a nonpartisan voter mobilization advocacy group financed by the Pew Research Center and based at George Washington University. "They're quite angry about things like the war, and they're very worried about the economy and getting a job and affording health care," said Smith

However, the article seems to snub the potential power of the youth vote (youth folly??), citing the fact that voters aged 18-29 made up only 12% of the electorate in the 2006 elections, despite the massive size of their generation.

But, could this be because candidates refuse to address the issues that matter most to young people? Or because they assume young people are apathetic and ignore them altogether? I think so, and so do the folks at Student Public Interest Research Groups: "Frankly, it's because the candidates don't spend the money or the time engaging young people," says Dave Rosenfeld. As the article points out, more and more young voter advocacy groups are trying to get political candidates to engage young voters, pointing out their huge size and civic involvement. As our own Lindsey Berman said, "The party that realizes this and mobilizes the youth vote will reap the rewards."

Are the '08 candidates responding? Granted they've all got Facebook groups and MySpace pages, but some are leaving youth outreach to their Webmasters. And as the article points out, online tools are great, but there's nothing like good ol' fashioned word-of-mouth.

Think we deserve better? Speak up, and prove that we're a generation to be reckoned with.