Old Enough to Fight, Motivated Enough to Vote?

What are the key issues for young voters? Are these issues different from their parents’ concerns?

DC: In a lot of the interviews my co-author and I did, young people’s political views were suspiciously issue-free. They like or dislike personalities within the parties — or caricatures of those personalities — and they’re voting for or against these stereotypes. For instance, they may be against the war in Iraq and against President Bush, but that doesn’t mean that they have well-formed opinions on why these things are bad or what should be done now. Of course, that may not be different from a lot of Americans, but I think it’s a mistake to think that issue positions or values lead to their political passion — the opposite is probably far more likely.

Have efforts like that of Rock the Vote, which works with the entertainment community to engage youths in politics, made a difference? How have MySpace and social networking sites impacted the role of youth in public life?

KJ: Rock the Vote has been around since the 1990s and has helped to register greater numbers of young people. This is good, but it will take a more systematic effort to compensate for the lack of knowledge that young people have today about how politics and government work. I guess what I’m suggesting is that media campaigns are great, but as long as there’s a fundamental lack of political knowledge among youth, registration drives will only work for some. Candidates can help by keeping up efforts to reach out to youth, whether that is done by connecting through sites like Facebook or holding more youth-oriented campaign rallies.

DC: I think the big thing the candidates are doing differently is to make use of social networking sites like Facebook to get young people involved in the campaign, rather than just using the sites for donations or getting them to turn out. There are an enormous number of young people hosting debate-watching parties or election-night events, canvassing or making phone calls. Making politics social, making it a real part of someone’s identity, that’s how you get the enthusiasm, and that’s the big difference.

Have the media successfully informed and motivated youth to participate politically? What role have Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” played?

DC: I think Jon Stewart, and shows like his — I’m thinking of Stephen Colbert, Keith Olbermann and even “Saturday Night Live,” to some extent — play an important role because they package serious political information and commentary as entertainment, as the sort of thing young people want to watch, and want to show others that they watch. Politics has a pretty high entry barrier — there’s a lot of basic information that you have to have in order to make any sense of what’s going on — and all of these shows provide that.

KJ: I think the news media tend to alienate young people by assuming a certain level of common knowledge about important political events of the day. Since young people tend to be pretty uninformed about things, they often find media coverage of politics hard to follow. The fact that so many of today’s youth flock to shows like “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” which satirize the media and politicians, shows how hungry they are for more authentic coverage of politics and government.

DC: I’ve run experiments here at FDU in which we have shown that young people learn as much from an episode of “The Daily Show” as they do from an evening news broadcast, and that’s pretty remarkable. Moreover, after watching “The Daily Show,” students want to talk about the issues — and that’s not the response we get from people watching an evening news broadcast.

What impact will the youth vote have on the upcoming presidential election?

KJ: So far it looks like youth turnout will be a factor in helping to determine the next president. Many states have seen double- or triple-digit increases in youth turnout in primaries and caucuses. It seems a pretty safe bet that youth will continue to at least chip away at the conventional wisdom concerning their apathy and inactivism.

DC: The biggest challenge the Democrats are going to face is keeping up the level of enthusiasm and involvement shown in the primaries through the general election. There’s been a lot of involvement, and a sense of urgency and immediacy: if that can be kept up, young people may play a decisive role, especially in areas where college students make up a large proportion of the population.

Even with the increase in youth participation, isn’t the level of activity of youth still far below that of other groups? With so much at stake, why don’t young voters consistently turn out? Is the process too complicated? Is there a lack of motivation?

KJ: The list of reasons for youth inactivism includes things having to do with the schools, socialization and the political system.

Schools have reshaped curriculum to fit the needs of standardized tests, and since the workings of government isn’t considered one of the key subject areas that students should be proficient in, we’re seeing a tendency to NOT require civic and government courses for graduation.

I also think it’s relevant to point out that teachers may not feel comfortable discussing politics in the classroom for fear of being charged with proselytizing rather than teaching. To some extent, we need to do away with the idea that politics is simply about a clash between liberals and conservatives and is more about the often complicated and slow way that democracy works.

In addition, norms of good citizenship aren’t being passed down from generation to generation, and parties and candidates are generally uninterested in mobilizing a group of voters with little or no predictable voting history.

DC: Really, young people’s participation has been below that of older individuals for more than 30 years now. However, depending on the measures of participation, young people in this election cycle are actually participating more than older cohorts. In the first part of this year, for instance, people under the age of 30 comprised as much of the primary vote electorate as those 60 and above, and were more likely to have donated money — though the amounts of money were smaller. We’ll have to wait for all of the data to come in, but it looks like the parties may have finally figured out how to put the younger cohorts to work.

What can be done to motivate more young people to take an interest in politics and take part in public life?

KJ: Talk to them. Make politics relevant. Explain why what happens in state legislatures and Congress matters to their daily lives. These are things that can be done without waiting for great systematic changes. We can use everyday opportunities to pinpoint the many ways that government impacts our lives. From the unresolved health care crisis to things more local like the curriculum in public schools, any social or political problem that’s talked about on the news or in casual conversations can be used to demonstrate the ways in which political decisions affect our lives.

DC: As a university, we have two major responsibilities in getting young people involved in political life. First, we have to get them the basic level of knowledge that they need in order to understand what the issues are and how those issues impact them and their future. Second, we have to show our students what they can actually do to change things, what the avenues for involvement are. If we can do that, they’ll take care of the rest.

What are your thoughts? Are 18- to 29-year-olds going to make a significant contribution to the coming election? If you are in this age group, what are your reasons for participating in or abstaining from the vote? FDU Magazine has created a blog for readers to share their stories and opinions. Go to myfdu.net/blog/fdumagazine.

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For a print copy of FDU Magazine, featuring this and other stories, contact Rebecca Maxon, editor,
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