Wired Politics Attracts Youth

By Kim Loop

AUSTIN – The last time the Texas primary had a say in determining presidential nominees, phone trees, not Facebook, helped to organize grassroots presidential campaigns and some of today’s new political activists weren’t even born yet.

A lot has changed since 1988.

“Young people are the first generation to be completely wired,” says Mary Dixson, associate director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation at the University of Texas at Austin. “They have access to 24-hour news, texting, Internet sites, Facebook and email and don’t know a world without cable TV.” And in this year’s election season, the candidates who understand these new mobile voters and organizers have the best chance of winning over this important sector of the Texas electorate.

“For our generation, the Internet plays a much stronger role in political organizing than ever before,” says Rachel Mehendale, a UT graduate. “It seems like social networking sites… have allowed a real-time political discourse and quick organization of the type we have never seen before.”

Rock the Vote, a nonprofit group that was founded in Los Angeles in 1990 to promote civic engagement among young people, came to the UT campus last week in an effort to promote grassroots organizing. To appeal to students, the group uses nontraditional techniques to help spread the word about the election, such as asking people to text message friends to remind them to vote.

“Promoting civic engagement and youth involvement is important simply because youth are the future of this country,” says Ryan Ellis, spokesman for UT College Republicans. “The youth in this nation could be a powerful portion of the electorate if they would simply wake up and vote.”

That seems to be exactly what they’re doing this year and, in the Austin area, many voters are starting early.

Since the beginning of the year, UT’s University Democrats organization has registered about 20,000 new voters, according to Andy Jones, the group’s spokesman. The group operates in a nonpartisan manner allowing anyone to register, but most of the newly registered voters are between the ages of 18 and 25.

In the first week of this year’s early primary voting, eight times as many people voted compared to the same period in 2006, according to the Travis county clerk. The voting location in the UT’s Flawn Academic Center was among the most heavily trafficked.

Tuesday is the official Texas primary and the high youth turn out could break records set by the 1972 general election, the first in which 18-year olds could vote. Four out of five voters under the age of 30 plan to vote in November, according to a Rock the Vote poll. Less than half of the same population planned to vote in November 2004.

Presidential campaigns are also reaching out to tech-savvy youth voters. Among Facebook supporters, Sen. Barack Obama seems to be leading the presidential race. As of last week, Obama had more than 640,000 supporters compared to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 125,000. Republican candidates didn’t fare as well: Rep. Ron Paul garnered almost 85,000 supporters while Sen. McCain and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee combined for just over 160,000 potential voters.

“Obama is attracting new people to the process,” says Dave McNeely, a longtime political columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. “The Internet has played a huge factor in this deal. You’re getting horizontal communication. It’s a communication method with which younger people not only feel comfortable but also feel a proprietorship with,” he says.

Even Obama’s campaign Web site is interactive and attractive to young voter. Visitors can share Web pages on the site simply by clicking a button and can also join Obama’s own social networking site, my.barackobama.com.

These features are the core of today’s grassroots campaign among young voters.

“Our generation has a big motivation factor from new media,” says Robert Huffaker, a former Central Texas resident currently studying in Italy. “Blogs and Facebook influence us just as much if not more than what politicians are saying on the TV.” A global nomad of an increasingly common breed, he uses the Internet to keep up with friends in the U.S as well as American politics.

“Any way to allow a discussion is key,” Huffaker says.

With the growth of technology, a higher level of youth involvement in politics seems likely in the future, or at least in this election.

“A lot of young apathy is self-perpetuating,” says Mehendale. “Sure, our concerns are not heard, but traditionally, young people have had a low percentage voting turnout. I think it's heartening that our generation seems so committed to the current presidential race.”