Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The youth vote...

I had the pleasure this morning of a moderating a debate at Norwich Free Academy for State Rep. Jack Malone, D-Norwich, and his Republican challener , Norwich Alderman John Crooks. It went pretty well, I thought, and we tried to keep the issues and topics related to young voters - things that they care about.

It's a fact that only about 20 percent of the 18-25 year-olds actually vote. When I talk with them, they tell me they don't vote because politicians don't "talk to them" and don't talk about issues important to them. And they're right. Politicians don't talk to young people because they don't vote.

It's the classic chicken vs. egg thing.

So today we tried to frame the issues in a way that made them important by trying to show how on the surface the issue of property taxes might not mean anything to these young people - but the ones who have cars are property owners and are taxed.

Both Malone and Crooks did a very good job of framing their answers in a way that put the issue on a personal level for the young people. And on many issues, they were pretty close.

But at the end of the debate, I asked the audience for a show of hands indicating which of the two candidates did they think they might consider voting for. Surprisingly about eight hands went up when I asked who might consider Malone - and significantly more went up when I asked about Crooks.

I'm not sure why. but the first thought that came to mind was that maybe this was a reflection of the sense of change that people are looking for in this year's election.

3 Comments:

Blogger Ray Hackett said...

That is, of course, a possibility and probably did have some influence - but I didn't get the feeling that it was an overwhelming factor. These young people were listening, asking some pretty good questions...and then made a choice.

But I do hope you are right about opportunities like this possibly getting them involved.

10:18 AM  
Blogger mccommas said...

If I were Crooks, I would not expect many of them to show up at the polls.

Youth don't vote in large numbers because they are still naturally figuring things out.

They will start voting when they feel they are informed enough to do so. I didn’t in 1985 or 86.

In that sense, young adults are being very responsible by NOT VOTING when they don't know what is really going on.

I think most people who push the youth to vote, who really would rather not, are liberals. They automatically assume that new voters will vote for the Democrats.

8:29 PM  
Blogger Ray Hackett said...

I would disagree slightly with you on this one mccommas. When I'm out looking for ordinary folks to talk with about the elections, I always make a point of talking with younger people when I see them. The main reason they tell me they don't bother is because they don't think the candidates are "talking to them." They don't think the candidates are talking about "issues important to them."

But they are interested in what's happening in their world and if candidates wold only frame their position on issues to make that connection with young people, it would make a big difference I think.

Candidates, of course, don't talk with them or about their issues because they don't vote.

It's the classic chicken/egg thing.

Do candidates have to start talking to them first before they vote, or do they have to vote in order to get candidates to talk to them.

11:14 AM  

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