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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The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory

Those of us in the progressive youth movement have been talking about the importance of young voter outreach for a long time now. We tried to drive home the point that young voters are not apathetic, but disengaged due to that self-fulfilling prophecy of traditional campaign ‘wisdom.’ Youth political organizations kept succeeding, increasing youth turnout in 2004 and 2006. David Plouffe, David Axelrod, and Barack Obama eschewed tradition by deciding from the beginning that organizing young voters to expand the electorate would be the key to victory.

“One of [Paul] Tewes’s ideas was to make sure we were working every community, no matter how small. African American, Latino, high school kids, Republicans–we had staff assigned to all of the demographics, months ahead of our competition.” The Obama campaign began by working hard to turn out the potential voters that traditional campaigns write off. While critics of the youth vote claim that 2008 was a fluke and just about Obama, it is clear that the campaign worked hard to organize youth that had never been asked for their vote by a campaign. The campaign knew that they “would win Iowa only on the backs of independents, Republicans, young voters, and new registrants–a scary proposition, to say the least.”

The campaign was able to look at the election through the lens of a young voter. “At least 95 percent of our six thousand employees were under the age of thirty, most under the age of twenty-five.” While it is not uncommon for a lot of campaign staff to be young, what was exceptional about the Obama campaign was the respect for them and the willingness to trust their instincts on what was happening on the ground.

We adjusted accordingly, adding more media and Internet advertising geared exclusively to younger voters; we prepared to do a lot more instructional and informative work with our supporters so they knew how to caucus, while trying not to spook them; and we redoubled our efforts to attract support from conventional caucus Democrats so our newbies in certain precincts were matched with some grizzled veterans.

The campaign invested in “advertising specifically geared toward women, seniors, and younger voters, African Americans and Latinos.” The messaging of the youth advertising reflected an understanding of the generation: “spots for those under thirty were very aspirational, a call to action, focusing on issues like Iraq and the environment, and calling on younger voters to get involved in shaping the future.” Young voters, used to being ignored, were finally being engaged by a campaign with the same effort and respect showed to seniors.

The Obama campaign conceived of and executed a strategy to expand the electorate by registering and turning out young voters and other traditionally underrepresented demographics. Here are a few passages from The Audacity to Win on how this strategy became a winning one:

As the returns came in we could see the traces of our strategy’s design: by registering over one hundred thousand new voters, producing strong turnout among African Americans and young voters, and winning college-educated whites thanks to our stand against the gas tax, we had made ourselves unbeatable in North Carolina.

We registered many thousands of new voters in both states, and these voters participated at high rates, defying the conventional view that new registrants turn out in very low numbers. A strong showing from African Americans and younger voters might put both these states in play in the general election.

If we did not register enough African Americans and young voters in North Carolina and then turn them out on Election Day, we could not win. Facing a traditional electorate meant we shouldn’t even bother with a state like North Carolina, no matter how much money we spent.

By focusing their attention on young voters and actually spending resources on research, the campaign learned new things about new and young voters. An example was when their numbers showed that they were not meeting their initial goals for youth early voting:

First, many young voters were so excited by this election that they couldn’t envision doing anything besides voting for Barack Obama in person at the polling location. When we raised with them the possibility of long lines, or the potential to free themselves up to volunteer, they simply wouldn’t budge. This was a big moment for them and they felt it would seem bigger if they voted at the polls. In any case, they were still dead-set on participating, which relieved us.

The second lesson was that there was still some confusion about who was eligible to vote early and how it worked. Armed with these findings, we made sure our communications to younger voters included even more remedial information about the nuts and bolts of early voting. Soon enough, their numbers began to climb. In many states we lowered our expectations for the under-twenty-five early vote (but not for overall turnout), and we eventually hit those numbers in most battlegrounds.

Republicans have spent a lot of effort in previous campaigns spreading misinformation to young voters about such things as early voting, residency, and registration. By putting in the effort to combat that misinformation, the campaign was able to empower and turn out voters who were unsure of the sometimes complex election laws.

As we now know, this strategy of reaching out to young voters paid off, despite the naysayers from the media and the old school political establishment:

Our base–African Americans, sporadic-voting Democrats, and younger voters–was turning out in larger numbers than McCain’s base in most states.

The share of the electorate over sixty-five actually dropped between 2004 and 2008, not because fewer older voters turned out but because younger ones showed up in droves.

Because the Obama campaign was committed to putting effort and resources in registering and turning out young voters, treating them with the same respect as other demographics, they were able to build on the work done by youth organizations since 2000 to culminate with those voters carrying Obama to victory and the presidency. However, culminate may not be the appropriate word. The work in further expanding the electorate by turning out young voters to elect Democrats is far from over. There is more potential for the Millennial generation to not only expand the electorate in an election, but to fundamentally alter the country for the better.

I’ll leave you with David Plouffe’s words on our generation:

I left the campaign extraordinarily confident about the future of the country, because of the talent and drive of the young men and women who made our victory possible. Certainly, we would not have won the primary or the general without a surging youth turnout in any number of states, Iowa most importantly. But their impact on the election goes beyond casting ballots. Most of our staff was under thirty, many of them were under twenty-five, as were a sizable chunk of our most active volunteers. As I witnessed, sometimes in awe, their performance and desire to look beyond themselves and contribute to a better world (and they have a distinctly global outlook) it gave me extreme comfort to know that in the not so distant future they will be taking the reins and leading our companies, campaigns, and institutions. For my generation, the rocking chair beckons–these kids are that good. I can’t wait to experience their leadership and vision in the years to come.

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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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This month CIRCLE released a report on the effects of state voter registration laws on young voter turnout.

The report shows that Election Day Registration (EDR) had the greatest effect in the November 2008 election in increasing youth turnout.

Election Day registration laws (EDR) allow voters to avoid the inconvenience and pressure of registration deadlines. As of 2008, nine states (Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) allow voters to register at the polls on Election Day. In a 2003 study about the 2000 Presidential Election, it was found that turnout was, on average, 14 percentage points higher among 18- to 24-year-old youth in states that had EDR. EDR may also decrease the disparity between younger and older voters. Before implementing EDR, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Wyoming were among the worst states in terms of turnout inequality between younger and older Americans. After EDR laws took effect, all three states decreased this gap dramatically. Wyoming, for example, moved from 39th place to the 7th smallest turnout gap.

What is so impressive is how dramatic the effect of EDR was in increasing turnout (emphasis added):

After controlling for effects of educational attainment, gender, marital status, age, race, and ethnicity, young people whose home state implemented EDR were 41% more likely to vote in the November 2008 election than those who did not have residence in the EDR states.

The report also shows that no-excuse absentee voting/vote by mail most likely had a strong effect, 23% of young voters voted absentee, however CIRCLE was “not able to estimate how the use of this strategy impacts state-by-state turnout since many young people, such as college students, live outside of their home state.” In-person absentee voting was appeared to be a convenience to young voters who were already planning to vote, but CIRCLE does not believe that its availability turned young voters out that were not already determined to vote.

Extended polling hours resulted in an increase in the turnout of young workers and part-time students, but did not seem to have much of an effect on full-time students.

The general theme of the report is one that we often discuss in the youth political community: that lowering the barriers to voting will increase turnout. Youth organizations should be working with state legislators to reform their elections processes and enact some or all of the policies mentioned in the report, as well as others, such as online registration and permanent vote-by-mail.

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The Western North Carolina Republican Party sent out a tweet this morning sharing an article about how students are indoctrinated by America-hating terrorist-loving radical left teachers and professors. If this is how the Republican Party is planning on winning the youth vote, they are as dumb as I thought:

So, this is why the youth vote went to Obama…because they’re a bunch of easily led, useful idiots. Makes sense. http://bit.ly/b6Jm

Someone needs to tell the Republicans in North Carolina that voters don’t like to be pissed on.

I wouldn’t just post this without a call to action, so here it is:

E-mail the NC GOP Chair Linda Daves LCDaves@aol.com and Executive Director Chris McClure mcclure@ncgop.org telling them that they need to respect young voters.

If you live in North Carolina write a letter to the editor of the Raleigh News & Observer.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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

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