Gallup’s new presidential approval report, Obama Approval Continues to Show Party, Age, Race Gaps, indicates that young and minority voters are the strongest supporters of the President.

The poll shows why the Vote 2010 strategy for OFA/DNC that President Obama spoke about last month makes sense. Younger and minority voters are the most supportive, are traditionally underrepresented at the polls, and require outreach to boost turnout.

Moving away from the old white high efficacy voter turnout model is going to require hard work, which is why campaigns have be so hesitant to do so in the past. If there is one positive externality of today’s divisive political climate, it’s that it may actual lead to real youth and minority outreach efforts in traditional campaigns.

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If there is a single universal truth, it is that young people love everything that is EXTREME!!! Especially when it is so extreme the first E can’t keep up, resulting in XTREME!!!

This past weekend conservatives swarmed the District for CPAC, their annual orgiastic encomium of Ronald Reagan, shooting things, racially-tinged humor, and bow ties. After losing the youth vote 2-1 in 2008, Republicans have called in the big guns for youth recruitment: Stephen Baldwin.

Stephen Baldwin and Kevin McCullough created XPAC for this year’s conference, which stands for “Xtreme Politically Active Conservatives.” The XPAC Lounge (AKA Kiddie Table) featured Xbox 360s and Wiis (kids love that crap) with Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The best part is that co-host Kevin McCullough is the same guy that freaked out about a “sex scene” in the video game Mass Effect in 2008. Sadly the originally article he wrote does not seem to be available any longer since he was called out for being a complete idiot. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, if you would remember, is the game that Fox News lost their minds over saying it would turn kids into terrorists and killers. Of course now Fox News says it is “turning up the hip quotient.”

Below is some video that spends some time in the XPAC lounge:

Reports from the ground indicated that XPAC wasn’t all that Xtreme:

On the other hand, the party wasn’t always hopping. The schedule read: “11 p.m. XPAC Rap/Jam Session, live music and special performances by Rappers: Hi-Caliber, Young Cons and many more!” Alas, the reality — as a group of young Harvard conservatives found — was an empty room with a bunch of Wii video games (XPAC was strictly non-alcoholic). As the gray-haired contingent ate a “presidential banquet” upstairs at the Marriot Wardman, where the conference was being held, listening to George Will explore the future of the movement, the cool kids had already moved on to Adams Morgan and beyond.

Time magazine did a profile on the youth presence at the convention:

There was a “Smoke Out the Terrorists” hookah party at Queen’s Café in Adams Morgan where 18-year-olds coughed their way through apple tobacco and lamented Washington’s 5-cent tax on plastic bags. Down the street, things got rowdier at The District, where the DC chapter of the College Republicans hosted a welcome party. “Liberty is contagious,” said one underage drinker — you could tell by the giant X’s drawn on their hands — between shots of Southern Comfort.

Here is a lesson for both political parties: stop trying to be “hip,” “Xtreme,” or “off the hook.” It’s just embarrassing. If you want to win the youth vote, do youth outreach and voter contact. Invite young people to your actual events, not to the Xbox set up outside. The vote of an 18-year-old counts the same as someone who is 65. Maybe you should try showing them the same respect.

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During the 2008 campaign conservatives were portraying young voters as automatons with a cult-like devotion to Barack Obama. There was an assumption that young Americans would unquestioningly answer the beck and call of Obama and Democratic leadership regardless of what we were being asked to support. 2009 and the first month of 2010 have proved that assumption false.

Millennials are more progressive than previous generations. We also must live with the consequences of legislation and policies, or the lack thereof, much longer than the elected officials creating and enacting those policies. Unfortunately the Democratic Party has been myopic in its legislative vision, concerned more about the potential effects on upcoming elections than the effects of their actions over the coming decades.

Myopic policies do not inspire young Americans to devote their energy and effort to their passage. The re-election of a few septuagenarians in November does not outweigh our desire for real fundamental change that will make lives better for years to come. By most definitions Millennials are not even old enough to have a representative of our generation in the Senate, and there is only one member of the House under 30, and he is a Republican. Millennials must rely on members of older generations to create the legislation we need.

If Democrats want young Americans to fight for their policies, they need to propose policies that Millennials believe are worth fighting for. Extending the careers of older politicians is not motivation enough, nor is a vast Democratic majority if the Party isn’t willing to use it. Until we are asked to support legislation that is powerful and far-reaching, our response is going to be lackluster. However, if and when we do see such legislation, I have a feeling that this generation will be on the front lines for it.

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Prior to Tuesday’s election Craig Berger and I each wrote harbinger posts. Craig’s piece, Prepping for the ‘Youth Disengagement’ Meme, highlighted the need for candidates to respect young voters as any other voting demographic, and that they need to be asked for the votes and support. My article, What Happened to Investing in Young Progressive Voters?, covered the dramatic drop-off of funding to progressive youth organizing following the 2008 election and the need to invest in youth infrastructure in order to continue the momentum from 2004-2008.

Following the election, Sarah Burris wrote What Yesterday Says About Young Voters, a lengthy analysis about the lack of youth outreach and the need to incorporate youth in both campaign and activism strategy.

Later that day I wrote about the success of young candidates throughout the country on election day and the Democratic Party takes the youth vote for granted at their own peril.

The Weekly Standard began to claim that the GOP’s youth vote win in Virginia was a sign that they are reclaiming the youth vote. Sarah Burris rebutted, and Aaron Marks of NextGenGOP agreed with her.

Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director of the Energy Action Coalition, wrote an excellent piece entitled Deconstructing the Myth of Disengaged Young Voters for the Huffington Post.

In summation the lesson learned from the 2009 election is that Democrats need to take young voter outreach very seriously, make a real commitment to building and funding youth organizing infrastructure, or risk losing all of the gains made from 2004-2008 that laid the groundwork for a dominant progressive Millennial generation that would pay dividends for a lifetime.

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Despite the chatter from the punditry, yesterday was a big day for Millennials. While they focus on two races with candidates that ignored the youth vote and wonder why turnout did not match 2008′s all time high, a number of young people won local elections throughout the country.

In New York, Young Democrats of America Democratic National Committeewoman Stephanie Hausner was the highest vote getter in her election to the Clarkstown Town Council. Former NYSYD National Committeeman David Carlucci won re-election as Clarkstown Town Clerk. Two former New York Young Democrats local chapter leaders, Dan French and David Fried, won local elections as well.

In New Hampshire, state Young Democrats President Garth Corriveau was elected Alderman in Manchester as was fellow NHYD Patrick Arnold.

In Washington, Kim Cole was elected to the Lynnwood City Council, Andy Ryder to the Lacey City Council, Amy Ockerlander to the Duvall City Council.

Over Twitter I’ve been told of a recent high school graduate that was elected to a school board in Michigan, as well as a number of other Millennial candidates that were giving victory speeches last night.

In towns and cities across the country young voters showed up to the polls to elect their own. These young local candidates realized the power of their generation, chose to run for office, and by reaching out to fellow young voters won their elections.

Yesterday’s lesson was not that young voters only showed up to the polls in 2008 to elect Barack Obama, but that Democrats must continue the youth outreach and funding that occurred during the 2008 cycle. The Millennial generation does not exist to serve at the beck and call of the DNC without being respected. When a candidate speaks to the issues of young voters and actively campaigns for their votes, they will deliver. The new generation of candidates understands this, and most of those candidates have a title with -elect after it today. Creigh Deeds and Jon Corzine didn’t, and in return were relegated to giving concession speeches.

The lesson for Democrats in 2010 is this: take the youth vote for granted at your own peril. If you want young voters to deliver for you, you have to be serious about earning their votes.

Also check out Sarah’s take on what yesterday meant.

UPDATE: It is important to note that the 2008 youth turnout was the result of funding and youth turnout effort from 2004 through 2008, and not an isolated 2008 effort.

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Yesterday Craig wrote about the “Youth Disengagement Meme” and closed with the following paragraph:

Unfortunately, given the lack of funding for many progressive youth organizations, the communications efforts aren’t there. By no means am I an expert in progressive youth infrastructure, but I do want to raise awareness of this. Because I have a feeling that the Corzine campaign’s inability to engage youth on a peer-to-peer level is going to have some rough consequences, I believe we’re going to be facing the “youth are disengaged” meme that will affect our preparations for 2010 and 2012. What are we going to do?

Last week Sarah wrote about the lack of youth outreach from the Democratic establishment. In that piece, she quotes Morley Winograd:

“There’s been a missed opportunity here in showcasing the kind of youthful, optimistic, hopeful energy that greatly Obama benefited from during the campaign,” said Morley Winograd. . .”But of course it does not at all mean that the opportunity has gone away.”

Between 2004 and 2008 progressive youth organizations were building a strategy and infrastructure to turn out young voters and engage them in issue advocacy outside of elections. Major progressive donors seemed to realize the latent power of the youth vote and the need to catch up with the conservative funding machine that supports conservative youth.

Money came in to progressive youth organizations and they continued building on their earlier successes. In 2008 the work paid off resulting in the election of President Barack Obama and large Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate. Unfortunately, it seems that donors now feel like the mission was accomplished and the funding dried up.

There are some who argue that this is because of the financial crisis, but that is only a small part of it. There is still a lot of money being raised by candidates and PACs. It is that the donors aren’t choosing to invest in the long-term as they had been for the previous four years.

Progressives can’t take the support of young voters for granted, nor should they miss out on activating this powerful demographic when it comes to fighting for legislation or local races. As Winograd said, we are missing opportunities, and we will continue to do so until progressive donors recommit to building a long-term bloc of progressive voters.

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The New Organizing Institute is holding a free youth organizing webinar tomorrow from 3-4 PM Eastern Time. Here is the description:

Young people aren’t just a demographic anymore – they create and sustain movements.

With youth vote gaining in momentum, it’s critical that your organization learns how to organize young people effectively, whether it be to turn them out to the polls or to rally behind your issue campaign and your organization. Over 12,000 people came to PowerShift09 in DC this year – where are you going to find your 12k strong to lobby Congress or mobilize your issue? Ian Magruder, President of the California College Democrats and a member of the NOI Trainers Bureau, and James Hannaway, a youth organizer for the Obama campaign in Michigan and an NOI Fellow, are teaming up to give you the rundown of the best practices of youth organizing.

Sign up for the webinar here.

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Yesterday I sent out a tweet asking my followers to send topics that they wanted to see me write about here on Future Majority. Karlo’s suggestions received a couple of retweets in support, so I will cover the first one today and the second later this week. Thanks to everyone who participated and keep checking FM to see if your idea gets covered.

Today’s topic is local elections in or near municipalities with a high concentration of youth, especially universities.This is an area where I have had some experience. In 2005 I filed an exploratory committee for Tempe City Council after I was drafted to run through Facebook. I ended up withdrawing from the race because a friend of mine who was a much better candidate and also a Young Democrat entered. He now sits on the Tempe City Council.

University towns are great places for young candidates to run for local office. There is a lot of latent electoral power that can be engaged by a candidate to change the game of a local election.

District vs. At-Large Representation

City and town councils tend to elect their council members in one of two ways: district representation or at-large. In municipalities with at-large representation, young voters have the power to exert their influence to change the way the entire governing body addresses their issues. In district elections, the maps are often drawn to have the university confined to a single district, giving the youth community a single seat on the council. The other representatives tend to represent the older constituents and the youth district representative often ends up as a lone dissenting vote. In at-large elections, high youth turnout can change the entire composition of the council, so all of the representatives will have to take youth positions into account if they want to keep their seats.

Research

It is important to do research about the youth in the district or municipality. This ranges from the standard voter-file number-crunching (youth density in precincts, etc.) to finding out what the most popular hang-outs are for youth in the area. It is also very useful to have a copy of the school’s academic and activity calendars.

Peer-to-Peer

The most effective method of engaging young voters is outreach from their own peers. Candidates should work with a school’s College and/or Young Democrats chapters to run a peer-to-peer program on campus. Young candidates should be making stops to the places where students tend to live or hang out and get the support of those voters. Many of these young voters have never been talked to by a candidate, nor has anyone ever asked for their vote.

Online Outreach

Right now the most popular social networking tool among college students is Facebook. Luckily with advanced searching it is fairly easy to find young voters on the site that are at the college/university and would be likely to vote if asked.

The candidate or a young supporter can send a Facebook message to each of the people in the search results explaining why they are being contacted and providing information about the candidate/campaign, especially the link to the Facebook group.

It is also helpful to create Facebook events for campaign activities as well as publishing content that can easily shared by your supporters in their profiles. The News Feed has turned Facebook into a place where buzz is visible and users can sense if a campaign has online momentum.

Conclusions

The main thrust of this post is that there is a great opportunity for candidates to win their elections with the power of young voters in high youth-density areas. In order to take advantage of that opportunity candidates and campaigns must engage in peer-to-peer outreach to young voters in the places where they live an hang out.

What are your thoughts on municipal campaigns in youth-dense areas? Share in the comments.

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Erica Williams of Campus Progress does the entire youth movement proud at the State of the Black Union.

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Michael’s post on voter registration modernization made me think about Millennials, the Democratic Party, and the relationship between the two regarding issue advocacy and legislative priorities.

I see three distinct dynamics based on the legislative priorities of young progressives and the Democratic Party.

1) Youth asked to support Democratic legislation that is not a youth priority

This is the dynamic that has been dominant in the past for young Democrats and progressives. An example would be legislation on social security or medicare. While these issues are important, they are not a legislative priority for youth nor do they immediately impact most young voters. Young activists and youth organizations tend to jump on to the Party’s action campaign to basically just add numbers.

2) Action on shared legislative priorities

This dynamic occurs when the Democratic Party’s legislative priority is also a youth priority. An example would be higher education policy or the current stimulus package. However, I see two variations of this dynamic. In the first, young activists sign on to an existing action similar to Dynamic 1. In the second, youth activists create their own campaigns and coalitions, often for a broader agenda. An example of this would be the Energy Action Coalition and their approach to global warming and environmental issues.

3) Youth press for issue that is not a current legislative priority for the DNC

This dynamic brings me back to Michael’s post mentioned earlier. Voter registration modernization is a very high legislative priority for youth activists, but is often pushed aside for the DNC’s priorities. Advocacy campaigns for such issues have to be created on their own and must be directed at the DNC as well to try to convince them of adopting the issue/legislation as a priority.

What does this mean?

The power of the youth vote in 2008 has moved us a lot closer to getting a seat at the table and puts us in our strongest advocacy position ever. In the past we were most often relegated to jumping on board all of the DNC’s legislative priorities while our own were ignored unless they were shared.

It is also important to note that youth-led campaigns such as the Energy Action Coalition build the strength of the youth movement more than bandwagon advocacy.

The question remains whether our legislative priorities will finally see the light of day in the wake of 2008 or whether it is going to be business as usual. We need to continue to really push for our issues in order to sustain our strength and make sure that the DNC respects our priorities the same as other constituency groups.

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