Reform

Ed. Note: this was first published on MyDD in July of 2005. Some edits have been made in this version to reference new research or clean up some language.

If you want to get apolitical youth involved in politics, you have to make political participation a cultural phenomenon.

I won't be shy about saying that "youth organizing," "youth issues," or most things that might fall under those rubrics get short shrift throughout the blogosphere. Granted, Kos and Atrios and Chris Bowers have all made efforts to point out what's going on - Atrios posts liberally about Drinking Liberally, Bowers gives Young Philly Politics shout-outs, and Kos has made multiple mentions of Cosmopolity and Music for America on his site - but for the most part, these topics are rarely picked up by the community. This surprises me. According to the 2006 Blog Ads Survey, 15% - a not insubstantial number - of the progressive blogosphere is between 14 and 30. My peers are in the blogosphere, they just don't speak or post from a generational point of view.

That is unfortunate, because "activating" and organizing young voters is incredibly important for the Democratic Party. 2004 was a record year for youth turnout. (PDF) Turnout was up to 51% (from 34%) nationwide, and turnout in swing states reached as high as 64%. It turned out that The Kids Were Alright in 2004. Their participation was a big boon to John Kerry, and as Joe Trippi noted in the WSJ, it saved his ass from McGovern-esque ridicule. Kerry carried young voters by a 10-point margin - a dramatic improvement over Al Gore's split decision with Dubya in 2000 - and the "kids" were only age demographic to break in favor of the Democrats. (The new study to read in this respect is A Gift to Democrats by Skyline Public Works. Look for a detailed analysis of that study soon.)

But to say that Kerry carried young voters is misleading. Many of us cast our ballots not for Kerry, but against Bush.