How to Win the Youth Vote this November

It seems that young voters are apathetic when it comes to elections. They don’t care about politics as a whole although there are exceptions to the rule as in any case. I contend that young voters have every reason not to care about elections or politics. Surprised? Don’t be. The reason why young voters do not care about voting is because they have not been sold on the idea.

Politicians have failed to explain to the youth why they should vote and I do not mean in the idealistic civic duty way. Politicians make the mistake of orienting their policies and marketing at two groups. They always target middle-age Americans and Seniors, so no wonder those seem to be the only groups that have shown up to vote in large numbers compared to young adults.

If McCain or Obama wishes to be successful in energizing the youth vote they must heed to their own strategies and apply them to this demographic. Why do you not see as many town hall meetings in a relevant arena for youth voters? Politicians hurt themselves when they deny themselves access to these voters. Candidate must reach out to young voters and articulate why they should support their candidacy.

Think of it this way . . . if you have a product and you consistently market it at 2/3 of a segment, why would you be surprised that a portion of your market goes untapped? These are lost sales. I do not understand why political campaigns have not figured this out yet.  It is quite elementary. Politicians must aggressively market and target young voters. Along the way they must explain what is at stake and why they should buy the end product, that being the candidate of course.