Young suffragists are using social networking sites.
Social networking sites are making the youth vote relevant again. After years of apathy, the number of 18 to 20-somethings who vote is growing. All it took was for politicians to engage them on their own turf.
We're talking about sites like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and others that are serving as many candidates' platforms for debate, information and action. As these sites are massively popular with young people, they can help determine who is getting the Millennium Generation's vote.
And they are voting, now more than ever. In New Hampshire's recent primary, the youth vote more than doubled 2004's numbers. In Iowa, it tripled, giving first blood victories to candidates Obama and Huckabee.
Young voters are turning out in record numbers, and ABC's partnership with Facebook and CNN's with YouTube are channeling this power. YouTube users, many of them young adults, sent thousands of questions to CNN for use in its autumn Republican and Democratic debates. According to the non-profit Rock the Vote's assessment of Rasmussen Reports research, 77 percent of those aged 18 to 29 reported watching the autumn presidential debates, more than any other age group.
Facebook's US Politics application lets users access ABC news and analysis, form debate groups, vote in polls and support candidates who have Facebook pages. Obama leads the way with more than 288,000 Facebook supporters, Clinton has 82,000 and Ron Paul rounds out the top three with a hip 79,000. These numbers are constantly growing.
Rock the Vote even has a widget embedded in the application that allows users to register to vote on the spot. If the organization is correct that 80 percent of young registered voters will actually vote on Nov. 4, we might need to give cool-with-the-kids candidates like Ron Paul a more serious look.
As the new adage might go: "As Facebook goes, so goes the nation."
Especially since voters younger than 30 will comprise more than one third of the electorate by 2015.
And don't think all this just applies to presidential hopefuls. Just ask my future Facebook friend Kathleen Sebelius and MySpace buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Leave a comment