Maybe.
Studies have shown partisan politics are decided early in our voting lives.
But I voted for George W. Bush in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008, so I guess the verdict is still out for me -- and for other young voters who did the same thing.
Sixty-six percent of 18-29-year-old voters voted for President-elect Obama. That is 25 percent more than voted for Kerry in 2004. Some say the youth's support for Obama made up all 6 points of Obama's popular vote percentage over John McCain.
The youth is responsible for Obama's historic win.
But can the Democrats keep the youth vote that was instrumental in getting them back into the White House?
GOP can win back the youth
The Democrats have not always been the favorite among young people. Many people in our parent's generation came of age during the Reagan years. They strongly supported the Republican Party then and still do now. In fact, Reagan supporters who went on to consistently vote Democrat later in life are known as "Reagan Democrats".
Young Obama supporters, it seems, are not necessarily Democrats. This election was more about the candidate than the party. As one young supporter wrote to her Florida newspaper last month, "I spent a lot of time reading the issues and plans of both candidates and have decided to become a Republican for Obama." There is potential to turn the current Obama supporters into "Obama Republicans" in the future.
Besides, although the majority of young people voted for Obama-Biden, 32 percent still voted for McCain-Palin. And Politico reported that nearly half of all eligible young voters sat this election out completely. If the GOP motivates the youth that voted for McCain and woos the youth that didn't vote, it can still win without the support of the 66 percent of us who supported Obama.
They may even be able to cut into that 66 percent.
Bush and Kerry nearly split the youth vote down the middle in 2004, so there are clearly some young people who are willing to support (and have supported in the past) a Republican candidate. Clearly there is potential for more youth support in the future.
The GOP must first change their ways
However, a large turnout among youth for the Republican Party in 2010 or 2012 is highly unlikely if the party remains loyal to the exclusionary, cynical, hyper-partisan campaigning that they employed during the general election season. It may have worked for some, but clearly the youth didn't like that at all. I doubt the Republicans will resurrect that method, though, after it died a miserable death on Election Night.
To their detriment, this election season the Republicans marketed themselves as the "Grand Old Party" and the Democrats successfully marketed themselves as the party of the future. Coincidentally, the Democrats nominated one of the youngest candidates in history and the Republicans nominated the oldest candidate in history. The Democratic campaign ran a technologically-savvy campaign and the Republican campaign seemed unwilling to even attempt to reach young people with technology. The Democrats focused on the fact that their candidate could bring change as a fresh face to Washington and the Republicans focused on the fact that their candidate was a war hero more than thirty years ago. The entire campaign season looked like new generation versus old generation.
The best thing for the Republicans to do now is to take the next two to four years to reinvent themselves as a relevant, progressive movement that is fit for the 21st century. They don't have to neglect their core values, but just make them relevant to more than Joe the Plumber and Bob the Builder.
This may seem like a daunting task. Luckily, the Republicans may not have to do anything at all to win our support if Obama takes the next four years to destroy his support among youth the way Bush did in his last four.
How Obama could lose the youth support
How could a president so popular among youth lose our support? It's simple.
All Barack Obama has to do is forget about the promises he made to us.
Education reform, ending the war in Iraq, fixing our economy, working across the aisle to bring true change to Washington -- all these things attracted his large youth backing. We understand that sometimes things don't go according to plan; but if Obama doesn't make an obvious concerted effort, then we will make the obvious concerted effort to oust the Democratic Congress in 2010 and him in 2012.
Unfortunately for the GOP, I don't see that happening. Obama is not oblivious to the support he received.
Though, he isn't the president of Young America, he doesn't think of youth as an "interest group" either. He realizes that Young America today is
It is up to the GOP to prove that they believe the same thing.
What matters to the youth
A major lesson both parties learned in this election season is that the youth of America are a political force to be reckoned with. If the Democrats want to continue the winning streak they started in 2006 or if the Republicans want to find their way back to a majority in
We're not interested in appeals to party loyalty as showcased in the past two elections. One young voter aptly summed it up in his comment underneath a blog about the youth vote: "Young people liked John Kerry because he was not George W. Bush. They like Barack Obama because Barack Obama is cool, Barack Obama understands us and speaks to us and inspires us. That is why I am voting for him on November 4."
Some frown on identity politics, but our generation seems much more likely to support the candidate they like rather than stay loyal to a certain party. Just give us a presidential candidate whom we like, whom likes us and you've got our vote every time. Keep your promises, don't wreck the country by starting two unpopular wars, ignoring hurricane victims and allowing the economy to plummet unchecked, and you might have us for life.
We are the "post-every-movement-imaginable" generation and we will just as soon be post-Obama supporters or make the Republican Party the post-political party if we are taken for granted or counted out.
Don't do it.
Posts
