By Rebecca Grites
Barack Obama has taken America by storm, causing Democrats to rejoice and Republicans to rethink, but he’s also led another party out of hiding: the youth. Youth voter registration is at an all-time high, with Project Vote counting more than 25 million youth voters, ages 18 to 27, registered as of 2006, when Obama first came on the scene.
Maria Simone, assistant professor and public speaking director for Rowan University, holds a seminar course that focuses on the communicative relationship between campaigns and the press. Simone’s seminar class has 15 students; three of them are openly for Obama, one is openly for McCain, three are openly undecided and the remaining eight have yet to make any mention of who they are voting for, but
Simone still believes Obama dominates the youth vote.
“The public opinion polls indicate that younger voters do lean toward Obama,” Simone says. “I think, historically speaking, the Democratic party tends to pull support from younger voters; the challenge is to get those younger voters to the booth.” Simone does believe that though the youth seem gung ho for Obama, a lot of older voters do, as well, so she anticipates increased voter turnout across the board this election.
Another approach at gaining youth involvement in Obama’s campaigns has been through local events that are catered to attract a younger demographic; for example, a rock concert.
Lou Magazzu, freeholder director for Cumberland County, wanted to promote Obama through a “Barack The Vote” concert event, which was held at Cumberland Community College on Oct. 11. Magazzu got on board with Adrian Silva, a 25-year-old local entertainment booker to make the event the huge success that it was.
“We had about 500 people attend, and the majority age group was between 18 and 30,” Magazzu says. “We also got 125 new voters registered. Our concert event got the Obama energy level up in the community, and it also brought young people into the campaign through some terrific music.”
Magazzu, a man who has been involved with politics since before he was 18 years old, is more than impressed by the youth leadership and involvement he’s seen in favor of Obama. “I’ve never seen the outpouring of enthusiasm for any candidate of any party as there has been for Sen. Obama since John Kennedy was president,” he says.
Silva was also overwhelmed by the youth turnout, as he is a part of it, he realizes how hard it can be to get kids involved in political activities. “Besides music itself, Barack Obama drove me to do this event,” Silva says. “I’ve been putting on shows since I was 14 years old, so when Lou came up to me and wanted to do something for the youth, I only had one idea and that was Obama.”
However, Silva doesn’t believe the youth vote solely holds the key to Obama’s potential presidential win, but he does believe Obama will be out next president. “I’m pretty sure Obama will win, and I’m all for it,” he says. Though Silva makes a strong point, Project Vote’s figures for Super Tuesday 2008 show 70 percent of the entire youth vote going to Obama.
Just like Quinn Schmal, a 22-year-old Stockton College of New Jersey student, who was originally for Hillary Clinton, but has become a firm believer in Obama.
“I’m not just voting Democratic because I’m registered one; I’ve gotten to like Obama more and more since he won the candidacy,” she says.
Schmal also revealed that she is much more enthusiastic this year than she was in 2004 with John Kerry as the Democratic nominee. “I like Obama more than I did Kerry. It might be because I’m older and I was probably less informed about Kerry, and also back then I just didn’t want to vote for Bush, but this time I’m really enthusiastic for Obama,”
And Schmal’s not alone. Rosy Henderson, also a 22-year-old Democrat who attends Rowan University of New Jersey, isn’t simply staying loyal to her party either – she’s thrilled about Obama and thrilled about the youth’s response to him. “I do believe the youth voters will win him this election,” Henderson says. “I think our age bracket is finally starting to pay attention to what’s important.”
Henderson also hasn’t seen much McCain support among her peers. “Those students I’ve talked to who are voting for McCain seem like they are just parroting what their parents say, whereas the Barack supporters seem genuinely educated about their decision and candidate,” she says.
But there are some youth voters out there for McCain, like Corey Leone, a 22-year-old student at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. “I am living in a very liberal city, and therefore mostly everyone I encounter is an Obama supporter,” Leone says. “I feel like a lot of young voters jump on the bandwagon and do what everyone says is the cool thing to do; calling yourself a liberal or voting for Obama because you don’t like Bush is very illogical and ignorant, because McCain is a totally different candidate.”
Leone supports McCain because of his policies and experience, and no matter her registered party, she believes in McCain. “Obama has little experience in the government, and little to no foreign policy experience,” she says. “I feel like young voters should vote for McCain because he will be better for this country fiscally.”
But if you ask Dan Levoi, the media director for Brooklyn For Barack, the youth vote “belongs” to Barack. “At our first meeting, there was a young man asking what he could do, and as I started talking to him I realized he was 15 years old and came to our meeting of his own volition,” Levoi says. “He went to every senior in his high school and talked to them about why they should vote for Obama; he even recruited a bunch of his friends to do volunteer work. We see a lot of people aged 15 to 22 who would’ve never been turned on by the political process in past years, and now they are bringing a ton of passion, new ideas and a fresh perspective – all because of Obama.”
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The media affects young people every single day. From the latest rock ’n’ roll group to the hottest movie star to the next, big Hollywood scandal, tweens, teens and young adults are hooked. Celebrity-snarking blogs like PerezHilton and the tabloid mag rundown at the supermarket don’t allow for anything to be kept private or out of reach – which includes political opinions.
Are celebrities converting the youth to Obama?
“I think there is a general perception that the media does influence people,” says Maria Simone, assistant professor and public speaking director for Rowan University. “The media is one of several socializing institutions and has the ability to frame and shape ideas about what or who is important. I would not argue that there is a direct, hypodermic needle type of influence from celebrities and other media outlets.”
Here is a small list of celebrities and famous people who have openly supported Obama and are constantly trying to urge others to vote for him, as well.
Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, Jennfier Aniston, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Kennedys, Oprah, Halle Berry, Chuck Berry, John Legend, Stephen Colbert, Perez Hilton, Brad Pitt, Wilco, Paris Hilton and Usher.
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November 7, 2008 at 1:25 pm
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