The key to gaining the attention of youth voters is to get them engaged in a candidate's message and pushing partisan politics aside, Republican strategist David Winston said during an American Forum event in the Abramson Family Recital Hall Tuesday night.
| An American ForumCourtesy WAMU-FM |
The forum, which broadcast live on C-SPAN and WAMU, focused on the existence of a "Youthquake" in the 2008 election. The five panelists discussed the influence of youth voters in this election.
Voters under the age of 30 are more inclined to look to the Democratic Party because of the nature of current political issues, according to Cornell Belcher, a Democratic strategist and a pollster for Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.
"Democrats have some structural advantages around certain issues with energy, the economy and to a certain degree, even with Iraq, which makes it a better playing field for Democrats among that age group right now," he said.
The key to attracting young voters is to get them engaged and focused on the outcome rather than partisanship, Winston said.
"If you've got an idea that engages people, that's what matters," he said.
Young voters tend to be more focused on outcomes, and they seek to directly make change rather than to seek change through politicians, Winston said.
"It's not that you are for supporting someone who is going to change the environment, you want to change the environment. In other words, it's the actual outcome," he said.
This generation's attitude has challenged the current partisan environment, Winston said.
"I found the group [of 18-29 year old voters] to be very, very focused on how do you actually achieve something," he said. "Not the sense of the political and partisanship and everything else wrapped in the process of getting there. It was getting there that mattered."
Voters in this generation came of age during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the 2000 presidential election and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which created a partisan environment in D.C. Now, the age group is looking to change, according to James Kotecki, a video blogger for Politico.com.
"Our generation has been steeped in a very partisan political environment, and we, collectively, I think, are looking to move past that," he said.
In this election, Democrats have mastered their use of the Internet to reach younger voters. This does not mean Republicans are completely out of touch, Kotecki said. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., managed to create a fairly large following of supporters by using the Internet to attract potential voters. John McCain has also used social networking and online fundraising.
"I don't know if it's that the Internet is energizing young people, or I think it also works the other way," he said. "Young people are energizing the activity on the Internet."
Republicans were last able to reach younger voters in the 1980 election through talk radio programs, which were gaining popularity with that generation at the time, Kotecki said.
In order to get younger voters attracted to the GOP again, Republicans need to identify what engages the generation and what voters want to see in the country, Winston said.
"[Republicans] need to think through, what is that idea that engages this cohort in such a way that causes them to vote Republican," he said. "It's not necessarily hip, it's just good, solid ideas that people say 'that's where I want the country to go.'"
You can reach this staff writer at jcalantone@theeagleonline.com.
