Twitter has caught on to the mainstream and a number of Republicans are using it to attack young voters. Here is a small selection that has popped up through a search of the words “youth vote.”

gnj46 - If Youth of the nation vote for Obama, that shows your they have small minds

Seriously, check your spelling/grammar before accusing a demographic of having small minds.

aataxi - Youth Vote = uninformed

If you want to check out the back and forth over Twitter during the debate, check out the election 2008 Twitter page for a zeitgeist.

P.S. Stop making the assumption that every voter under the age of 30 is out getting blasted on every Friday night. Seriously.

They start actually talking about it 2 minutes in. Focuses on how angry we are and how anonymity has led to wild and crazy netroots action.

“Modern technology has empowered whack jobs.”

The Young Democrats of America, on behalf of the six million young people who participated in the 2008 primary and our members across the country, congratulate Senator Obama on winning the Democratic nomination for President and applaud Senator Clinton for a history-making primary campaign in which young voters were mobilized in record numbers.

“The Young Democrats of America proudly stand behind our Democratic Presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama,” said David Hardt, President of the Young Democrats of America. “I am proud to announce that I will cast my superdelegate vote for the next President of the United States, Barack Obama. I congratulate Senator Clinton on a well-run campaign that prioritized young voters and for her personal commitment to involving young people in the electoral process.”

“Senator Obama and Senator Clinton both fought to win the votes of young people, highlighting how important this demographic has become in Democratic politics,” said Crystal Strait, YDA’s Democratic National Committeewoman and an Obama superdelegate. “Senator Obama harnessed the Young Voter Revolution, targeting youth people in innovative ways to get out the youth vote. His message of hope and optimism matches the promise of the Millennial generation.”

“Young people are ready to unite behind our nominee to bring about the change we need to get our economy back on track, make college more affordable, provide health care for all, and end the war in Iraq,” said Francisco Domenech, YDA’s Democratic National Committeeman and a Clinton superdelegate. “Young voters know that all of our Democratic candidates provided positive solutions for change, rather than the same old failed policies of Bush and McCain. Young Democrats are ready to get to work to put our country back on track.”

“We have seen unprecedented turnout among young voters this election cycle. Six million young people participated in our primary contests, an increase of 103% from 2004,” said Alexandra Acker, Executive Director of YDA. “The Young Democrats of America is launching our Young Voter Revolution campaigns to get out the youth vote in key states and build a generation of young, Democratic voters.”

According to a recent poll conducted of 18-29 year-olds, Barack Obama beats John McCain 52 percent to 39 percent (MTV/CBS, April 10-15). In nearly every primary contest, more young Democrats cast ballots than young Republicans, often by 2:1 margins, and even in staunchly conservative states. Democrats have a 19-point advantage in party identification and a 25-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot. The 2004 elections marked the largest increase in young voter turnout since 1972.

Sign the letter at http://rockthevote.com/act-out/letter2008/

Dear Senator Obama & Senator McCain,

This general election is on course to see the highest young voter turnout ever. And young people are now poised to be decisive in choosing the winner in November.

As a generation, we recognize the power we have to create real change, and we are prepared to use it. We are fighting for our country, involved in our communities, and voting. And this is just the beginning.

We call on each of you to address our needs and our hopes for our country by living up to the values at the core of our democracy and addressing the issues that young people care about most: a more democratic and open society, and a better future with more opportunity for all.

We, the undersigned, have committed that in order to earn our votes, a Presidential candidate must not only support these values, but also lay out specific plans to address the most pertinent issues affecting the future of our generation, including:

• Equal Opportunity: The right for all young people to succeed in our country, including an affordable high-quality education, fair wages and equal access to health care for all Americans.
• Sustainability: The right to live on a sustainable planet without the constant threat of violence in our own communities and those around the world, including significant measures to address global warming, the war in Iraq and international human rights violations.
• Freedom of Expression: The right to express ourselves artistically and politically without undue censorship – online and off—and protest against our government.
• Equal Representation: The right to equal representation in our democracy and the protection of young people’s right to vote without unnecessary restrictions.
• Tolerance: The right to live in a society that does not discriminate based on race, sexual orientation, gender, nationality or religion.

We are committed to electing a new president in November who represents us, who fights for us and makes good on his promises after elected.

If you stand with us now we will stand with you at the polls in November. We are ready. Are you ready to Rock the Vote?

Sincerely,

Rock the Vote

CurrentTV has some great coverage on the Millennial generation, the youth vote and civic realignments.

Earlier today I wrote two posts about vote pledges: Vote Pledges and Why They Work on Future Majority and Vote Pledges are Valuable, Even in Heavily Democratic Areas on the Young Democrats of America Blog.

From Vote Pledges and Why They Work:

The concepts of peer-to-peer and vote pledges were developed after extensive research on marketing behavior and social psychology. Social psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini from Arizona State University explains the power of commitment and consistency in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion:

Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.

The process of a young person signing a pledge to vote for a Democrat in November is a commitment to take that action, and they will be much more likely to actually do so in order to be consistent: “Once a stand is taken, there is a natural tendency to behave in ways that are stubbornly consistent with the stand.”

From Vote Pledges are Valuable, Even in Heavily Democratic Areas:

We have often talked about the research showing that a young voter who votes for the Democratic Party in three consecutive elections will likely identify themself as a Democrat for the rest of their life. We have also talked about how the Millennial Generation is more mobile than any other. Just because a young person is living in a highly Democratic area now, there is a good chance they will eventually live in places that aren’t.

The environment for collecting vote pledges and peer influence is much better in highly Democratic areas, so young people are more likely to been involved in social networks where being a Democrat is looked upon highly. By starting them on the path of becoming a life-long Democrat in areas where the peer reinforcement is supportive of the Democratic Party, the chances of success are very good. If and when they move to another location where the culture is not as supportive, the Democratic Party will already be a part of their identity.

Please go check out the posts in their entireties and leave comments with your thoughts. Also, don’t forget to sign the vote pledge at yda.org/votepledge and to encourage your friends to do the same.

Live from Nashville, we are rolling out the online voter pledge for YDA. Go to yda.org/4 and sign the pledge now.

I know what you are thinking. What is Kevin doing talking about another online service when we are just starting to figure out what the hell a Twitter is? I feel your pain. Actually, I don’t because I love this stuff, but I do understand your pain.

Well, for those of you that are adventurous, Friendfeed is a social network aggregator that takes your contributions from a whole litany of social networking sites and puts them in one place for discussion.

Friendfeed has recently created a rooms feature that allows you to have a topic-specific room for discussion and sharing, so I have started a Youth Vote room.  So if you have a Friendfeed account or are interested in creating one check it out. My account is here if you want to see it or add me.

The CIRCLE report released today shows 46,000 young voters taking part in yesterday’s West Virginia Democratic Primary.

“Young Americans have been turning out to vote at remarkable rates in these primaries. This
reflects their deep concern about the critical issues at stake and the impact of this election on
our country’s future,” said CIRCLE Director, Peter Levine. “Since 2000, young people have
been volunteering at high rates and are becoming more interested in news and public affairs.
Now they are ready to consider voting as a way of addressing major problems. The Millennials
are beginning to make their distinctive and lasting mark on American politics.”

West Virginia young voters (18-29) voted for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama 56% to 38%, making WV one of the few states that Sen. Clinton has won this demographic.

CIRCLE re-emphasizes the upward trend of youth participation:

The increase in youth turnout observed in most primaries so far continues a trend observed in
other elections since 2000. In the 2006 congressional elections, the voter turnout rate among
18-to 29-year-olds increased by three percentage points compared to the previous
congressional election of 2002. And in the 2004 presidential election, the national youth voter
turnout rate rose 9 percentage points compared to 2000, reaching 49 percent. In 2004,
under-30-year-olds were registered to vote at the highest rate in 30 years.

Kevin Bondelli’s Youth Vote Podcast Episode #1

Click the link above for the mp3. The sound quality isn’t quite as good as I would like, but I recorded it using the built-in microphone on the laptop and open-source mixing software.

Topics include the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, Indiana voter ID law, Twitter, and the GOP Generational Time Bomb.