Even if his campaign just brought in $86 million, President Obama has a big problem in 2012--he doesn't have the youth support he did in 2008. In the eyes of many young voters, he is no longer a trendy celebrity, but just another politician. The faltering of Obama's youth support might mean that a Republican candidate can pick it up in 2012, but with a GOP field so wide and diverse, the winner of the youth bloc is yet to be determined.
Do you think any of the GOP candidates can win the youth vote in 2012? Let us know what you think in the comments.
While the youth vote isn't the most dependable, it does have the power to energize a campaign, just as Obama used it in 2008. As Elise Jordan explains,
[...] The Millennial generation, meaning 18-to-29-year-olds...mattered in the 2008 election because Obama’s campaign recognized and exploited them. His campaign team engaged them through ground-breaking use of social media and grassroots outreach. It worked. Youth voted for Obama by a margin of 2 to 1, and 3 million more new voters visited the polls than in 2004. The Millennials accounted for 18 percent of the vote, and it was the third consecutive presidential election with increased youth turnout.
Since the 2008 election, though, many of Obama's young voters have grown disheartened with his policies.
When Obama spoke at the University of Maryland on Friday, student Jerome Lincolns explained how his attitude toward the president had shifted since Obama last visited the campus in 2009. “He’s like a new car: First it’s really awesome, and then you realize it’s a lot like the other cars,” Lincolns told USA Today.
This problem leads to a major opportunity for the GOP to win the youth vote if a candidate can strategically run a campaign to do so, proving to young voters that conservative policies will benefit them through a better economy and job market.
[...] There’s no point in trying to out-hipster [Obama]..That doesn’t mean we should cede the Millennial battlefield. What it does means is that we must keep the message simple and focused, and we must talk directly to the young voters. We know what they want, and we know Republicans can deliver it better than Democrats. Targeting young professionals and canvassing college students — people among whom the economic anxiety of the past two years is particularly acute, and who face the highest barriers to employment — should be a main focus of the Republican effort. Trendy has never paid the bills, and this time around it might not get that many votes, either.
Do you think anyone in the GOP field can win over young voters and bring them out to the polls during primary season and on Election Day? Or do you think GOP campaign efforts are best left to targeting a more reliable bloc of voters who are a few years older?
