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Obama, Clinton look for youth vote boost

By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | dfreedlander@am-ny.com

February 4, 2008

A rally was held by supporters of Sen. Hilllary Clinton at Columbus Circle, with an Obama sign visible in the foreground. (RJ Mickelson / February 3, 2008)

Year after year, campaigns bank on bringing out the "youth vote," but year after year those same young people stay home.

This year, however, all signs are pointing to the young demographic finally being counted in the presidential election.

"They have already turned out in numbers no one suspected," said Keli Goff, who writes for the blog pimpmy vote.wordpess.com. "Young people vote when they are given a reason to. They vote for the person more than the party and want not to just like the candidate but to trust them."

Goff and other political analysts say that Sen. Barack Obama, 46, is poised to become the beneficiary of a newfound interest in politics by younger voters.

"You don't need a poll to tell you that young people are hugely for Obama," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "He's young, he's charismatic, and he's smart enough to know that the message is to look forward, and that's the kind of combination that young people really respond to."

It was that combination that piqued the interest of Shlomo Bolts, a 19-year-old sophomore at Columbia. "I'm not usually into politics, but I thought this guy has insight and vision and I wanted to be a part of it," he said at a Harlem rally for Obama Sunday. "I think the campus is more engaged in the election than people think, but it's really because of Obama"

Carroll cautioned that early support for Obama could quickly dry up.

"The question is how long is their attention span," he said. "Young voters get energized and then they get bored. You can't really count on them."

Obama has a 3-to-2 advantage over Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, 60, among the under-30 voters according to a recent Time Magazine poll and he has targeted "millennials" through Facebook and online venues. The campaign also introduced a two-way text messaging service where people can query the campaign by punching in questions on their cell phones.

"If you look historically at movements for change, they have largely been fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of the young," said Richard Fife, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in New York. "We are seeing it again with this candidate."

The Clinton campaign, though, is aggressively targeting young people as well.

Clinton's "Hillblazers," is a group of young supporters who organize on her behalf, and the senator has recently has been trying to connect with the younger crowd by fielding emailed questions over video on her Web site.

"The campaign has been working to engage young voters and give them greater access and input to the campaign and we couldn't be more thrilled with the support we've seen from young voters," said Frank Rothman, a Clinton spokesman, proudly noting the large numbers of young people at an afternoon rally in Columbus Circle Sunday that dwarfed a nearby Obama event.

Even Hillary's backers have conceded that their support for her can lead to a certain loneliness on campus with Obama getting so much attention.

"Yes, Obama is really resonating with the youth," said Ian Rivera, 19, and a sophomore at St. John's University. "I think they've fallen in love with the ideas he talks about, but eventually they will see that she's the one to make the real kind of change that youth want to see."

Democratic efforts far outpace Republican ones in this area, mainly because younger voters tend to trend far more Democratic. A recent poll by Democracy Corps showed that two-thirds of voters 18-29 believe Democrats represent their beliefs more than Republicans do.

"Young voters are more progressive than other demographics," said Mike Connery, 29, who runs the website Future Majority, which is devoted to millennial politics. "We are the most diverse and tolerant generation there is, and there is a sense that government can change things for the better."

Not to mention that GOP Arizona Sen. John McCain at 71 -- is the oldest candidate in the race.