According to Rock the Vote, more than 6.7 million 18- to 29-year-olds have voted in the Democratic and Republican nominating contests this year; record-setting turnouts also are expected in the general election in November. The turnout of this age group—frequently referred to as the “millennial” generation—has increased 103 percent for the 2008 presidential primaries, Rock the Vote reports. In some parts of the country, the number of millennial voters has even doubled or tripled from previous elections.
As more and more young voters make their voices heard, the nature and traditions of American presidential campaigns and elections continue to change. What exactly is motivating millennials, and college students in particular, to become involved at such record levels? What concerns are they voicing? What issues do they deem most pressing? And what are presidential hopefuls Sen. John McCain (R–Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D–Ill.) doing to both hear and be heard by such an important constituency?
The issues
In May 2008, The Center for American Progress, a self-described “think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action,” completed an analysis of millennials’ views on the economy. According to its research, millennials view the economy as the most important issue in the upcoming election. A majority believes that “the government can be a force for good in the economy, and that increased investments in healthcare, education, and other areas are necessary to ensure strong and sustainable growth.”
With many students heavily burdened with student loans and credit card debt upon graduation, these concerns are both philosophical and practical in nature. According to the American Council on Education, college students who earn a bachelor’s degree borrow an average of $16,500; additionally, Nellie Mae estimates that the average college student graduates with $2,300 in credit card debt. These figures, occurring within a context of a weakening economy, unstable job prospects, and the rising costs of gas and food, all combine to create a significant concern for today’s graduating college seniors.
As students head into the work force or graduate school, they are understandably—and appropriately—concerned about the economy. Marvin Worthy, president and CEO of Worthy Consulting and Training, has seen these concerns arise during his work on college campuses. “The topics most on students’ minds are affordable tuition, lack of a vibrant job market, and student loan debt,” he said. “Given the current job market and economy, students are derailing traditional employment paths to consider entrepreneurship opportunities. In addition, students are contemplating advance degrees versus a job search as a standoff until the market turns around.”
Similarly, with 34 percent of college graduates not having health insurance at some point during their first year out of college, health care is another major issue for millennials in the upcoming election. Only slightly more than half (53 percent) of 19- to 29-year-olds will be eligible for health insurance through their employers, further compounding the economic woes faced by this age group. According to a 2008 study by the Commonwealth Fund, the millennial generation is “one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the population without health insurance.”
Such staggering figures on the issue of health care are clearly having a direct impact on today’s college students, both during their time as students and as they transition out of college. As the Center for American Progress study also found, millennials support increased government spending on health care, even if it came at the cost of increased taxes. In fact, 57 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds felt that the government should provide health insurance, and 87 percent believed that “the government should spend more money on health care, even if a tax increase is required to pay for it.” This latter figure is the largest in the question’s 20-year history.
While today’s college students are clearly concerned with their own financial and physical health, they are not turning their backs on their legacy of being significantly involved in social justice issues and movements. The past several years have brought Hurricane Katrina and the horrors that followed; the Jena 6; new waves of anti-immigration policies; a country at war on multiple fronts; concerns about sexist treatment by the media of the first seriously possible female presidential candidate; the increased legalization of gay marriage at the same time as the passage of increased restrictions on gay civil unions; and concerns over the legality of an executive branch of government that continues to increase its power.
College students have been at the forefront of many of these issues. Events on individual campuses, sometimes coordinated as part of larger movements, have long been a staple of college student activism on issues of social justice. In May 2006, nine students at the University of San Francisco went on a hunger strike for immigrant rights. On Sept. 20, 2007, students at Albion College joined multiple campuses in a nationwide day of protest against the Jena 6 situation. In February 2008, thousands at Prairie View A&M University students marched for their own right to vote in a dispute with the city of Prairie View, Texas, over minority voting rights and the removal of a campus polling place. Student involvement with such issues, in addition to their concerns about the economy and health care, create an undeniable force for Obama and McCain to deal with. The question then becomes not if the candidates will respond to the increasingly outspoken voices of today’s college students, but how.
The campaigns and new technologies
It has always been a strategic decision to host presidential primary debates on college campuses. In the primary season leading up to the 2008 election, more than one dozen college campuses hosted debates. Candidates purposefully utilize a campus’s mission, location, identity (public or private school? Historically black college? Conservative or liberal student body?), and demographics to further their messages. Additionally, the vibrancy of a college campus and the energy students bring to any on-campus campaign event, make hosting events on a college campus a key aspect of any successful presidential campaign.
The technology behind this season’s debates also has transformed the landscape in new and exciting ways. The July 23, 2007, Democratic debate, held at The Citadel, incorporated YouTube videos of questions submitted by voters. Candidates were allowed to present 30-second campaign videos that were shown throughout the two-hour event. YouTube also has a special section of its site dedicated to the presidential primary debates, with debate questions and candidates’ answers still available for download.
Tapping into the power of the YouTube community has been critical for candidates, considering a fact sheet for the website reports that 52 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues. The McCain and Obama campaigns each had instances of YouTube videos for, and against, their candidates circulating the Internet, many of which were not sponsored or created by the campaigns themselves. Both McCain and Obama have videos of their speeches available on their campaign sites, and both have individual channels on YouTube. YouTube also offers a YouChoose’08 channel, where users can compare candidates side by side, watch speeches, and learn more about each candidate’s position on pre-selected issues.
YouTube was not the only Internet-based sponsor of a presidential debate. On Jan. 5, 2008, Facebook partnered with ABC News and WMUR for the New Hampshire debate. Viewers were able to watch the debates on ABC while providing live feedback and participating in debate groups on Facebook. Once the televised debates concluded, discussions continued—and will most likely maintain themselves until (or even after) the November elections.
Television programs geared toward youth have played an important role during the campaign as well. In May 2007, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that 13 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds tune in to The Daily Show “regularly as an information source.” It makes sense, then, that McCain decided to announce his 2004 presidential candidacy on the show in a strategic effort to connect with young voters. McCain has appeared on the show more than a dozen times, and Obama has appeared multiple times as well.
Not to be left out, “Saturday Night Live” also is proving to be a key player with young voters in the 2008 election. In addition to being mentioned during a February 2008 presidential primary debate, the show will begin broadcasting new episodes earlier than usual in an attempt to capitalize on the election. TV Week reported the show will also air three, 30-minute prime-time specials entitled “SNL Weekend Update Thursday” throughout October 2008 and a 90-minute, election-based special the night before Election Day.
While they may be a key demographic of “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live” audiences, millennials are utilizing multiple other sources of information. According to a June 2008 Business Wire article, 88 percent of college students engage “with social media, including visiting social networking websites, video websites É and blogs” on a daily basis. Additionally, the same article reported that 16 percent “choose to gather information about the 2008 presidential candidates” through social networking and user-generated websites. Therefore, what constitutes a news and information source is rapidly changing.
According to Facebook, more than 500 American politicians have Facebook pages, including, of course, McCain and Obama. Facebook users can become a Facebook supporter of a candidate, post messages, create links on their own pages, watch videos, see photos, and invite other Facebook users to join in their support. Additionally, users can view a calendar of upcoming events and learn details about a candidate, such as his or her birthday, religious views, and favorite books, movies, and TV shows. (For the record, Obama likes “Sportscenter”; McCain prefers “24” and “Seinfeld.”)
Facebook’s partnership with ABC News aims “to empower voters with more information, both by bringing issues from the campaign trail to their lives in real-time and by surfacing the ideas and opinions of the people that matter to them the most. Together, ABC News and Facebook aim to mobilize active political engagement,” a 2008 Facebook press release stated. Facebook boasts that it maintains 85 percent of the market share of four-year U.S. universities, making its ability to connect presidential politics with today’s college students both historical and revolutionary in nature. Technology is clearly having a new and exciting role in the world of presidential campaigns.
While Facebook and YouTube require voters to come to them, however, other media allow the campaigns to bring themselves directly to voters. Beyond standard cell phone use, increasingly high numbers of millennials utilize text messaging. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, in June 2007, Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, told a Washington panel that her organization’s text messaging initiatives reminding young adults to register and vote increased voter turnout by four percent.
The text-messaging phenomenon may be second nature to millennials, but it is far from standard practice in traditional presidential campaigns. The Obama campaign offers registration for text message updates (both for general updates and user-specified issues) through its website; this writer’s attempts were unsuccessful, however, in trying to find a similar service through the McCain site. Even Joe Rospar, Obama’s new media director, told The Washington Post in June 2007 that, “The reality is, I don’t think there’s a campaign or a political organization right now that has figured out how to smartly use this technology. There’s going to be a lot of experimentation.” With millennial voters accustomed to being able to vote via text message for their favorite American Idol, however, it is clearly becoming increasingly important for any modern political campaign to tap into the power and influence of text messaging capabilities.
The contrast between the use of technology between the Obama and McCain campaigns is stark in other ways as well. On the homepage of its website, the Obama campaign offers links to more than 15 web resources (such as Facebook, YouTube, and twitter) where supporters can connect their own personal pages to the campaign and sign up to receive updates. Additionally, the homepage provides a portal to the mobile phone campaign, with instructions of how to sign up for text message updates and download Obama-themed ringtones. In contrast, the McCain campaign offers much less on its website when it comes to such new media resources; those that are offered are buried deeper within the site.
Both the McCain and Obama campaigns have tapped into other new media. Each candidate offers updates and information via Digg, Technorati, del.icio.us, and twitter. College students who sign up for such updates may be notified of speaking engagements or other events in their area, recent milestones reached by a candidate’s campaign, ways to donate or volunteer, and dates and times when a candidate may be seen on television. The information exchange between a campaign and a “watcher” extends far beyond a one-way conversation, however. If campaign followers are notified that a candidate will be speaking on television that night, they may update their own twitter status while watching the event, provide a link to the video on their Facebook page, and link back to the campaign website (where donations can easily be made) on an e-mail sent to friends and family. The landscape of presidential elections is clearly changing.
The election
As the election nears, college students find themselves at the intersection of a multitude of forces. Technology and new media are transforming the political race; a significant percentage of students are concerned about the economy, health care, and issues of social justice; and record numbers of these students are participating in the political process. What, exactly, will all of this mean when polling places open on the morning of Nov. 4?
Both the McCain and Obama campaigns still have a long road ahead. In May 2008, the Center for American Progress reported that “Millennials mostly reject the conservative viewpoint that government is the problem,” leaving McCain with an uphill battle against the sentiment of nearly an entire generation. Obama must work to incorporate a generation of Americans who may have become involved in the political process only recently. With no quick solution in sight for health care and an economy generally expected to remain weak through November, college graduates’ sentiments on these issues will most likely remain the same when they enter the voting booth.
The 2008 presidential campaign and election may also have long-term consequences for both parties. While conventional wisdom may dictate that Americans’ political views become more conservative as they age, there are some compelling statistics indicating that this may no longer be the case. As Alan Abramowitz noted while discussing national exit poll data in The New Republic in July 2008, “Although all age groups showed an increase in Democratic voting in 2006, only those under the age of 30 showed an increase in Democratic identification—a possible sign of a long-term realignment.” Additionally, Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), told NPR (also in July 2008) that “If the current polls hold up and young people vote overwhelmingly Democratic, the Republicans will still be paying a price for that in 25 years.”
The stereotype of millennials as uninvolved and lacking follow-through on Election Day itself is also expected to be shattered in November. According to the Alloy Media + Marketing’s 2008 Alloy College Explorer report, powered by Harris Interactive, nearly 80 percent of college students are registered to vote, and an overwhelming 92 percent say they “intend to show up at the polls to mark their choice for the next presidential leader.”
For a generation so tied to technology, the differences between the two candidates and how their campaigns utilize new media may prove critical on Election Day. Millennials are deeply concerned and strongly involved with the issues they deem most important and are now accustomed to using the technological resources at their disposal to complement their involvement. McCain and Obama must incorporate the growing voices of millennials into the folds of their campaigns; how they do so may be just as important as doing so itself.
As the nature of presidential elections continues to change and develop, however, one thing is for certain: Millennials will continue to have a significant impact on the process and the result. In a June 2008 Rock the Vote press release, Smith said she foresees young voters having a historical influence on Election Day; “We have propelled candidates to victory in both parties and reinvigorated our democracy with millions of new young voters this primary season. We are now poised to be decisive in choosing the winner in November.”