Candidates vie for contested youth, look to alter past trend

By David Drucker
Daily Bruin Reporter

College students and other twentysomethings will head to the
polls Tuesday and join older Americans in voting for the next
president of the United States.

Or will they?

Though recent trends suggest that turnout among
18-to-30-year-olds could reach an historic low in this election,
various presidential campaigns have waged a grass roots effort to
woo this demographic.

“The fact that Gore had a rally in Westwood shows that
they definitely care about the student vote,” said Bruin
Democrats President Melanie Ho, in reference to Al Gore’s
campaign stop here Tuesday.

“They could have held the event anywhere, but doing it
virtually on campus speaks volumes for the importance they put on
our participation,” she added.

Fears that Green Party candidate Ralph Nader might steal enough
votes from the Democratic Party’s base in California to tilt
the outcome in favor of Republican nominee George W. Bush. may
explain Gore’s last minute appearance in the Southland.

Nader campaign officials specifically credit the inroads
they’ve made to their support among students and young
people.

“We’ve reached out to young people, especially those
who maybe haven’t voted before and are cynical about the
process,” said Nader 2000 Southern California campaign
coordinator Woody Hastings.

“Our campaign has been energized by them. We even have
middle and high school students working for us that are too young
to vote, but want to see the Green Party succeed,” he
continued.

Robert Garcia, a 22-year-old communications studies student at
Cal State Long Beach, is far from apathetic. He landed the job of
California Youth Coalition Coordinator for the Bush-Cheney campaign
by writing letters to their national headquarters in Austin and
walking into local GOP offices to volunteer to help elect Bush.

“The Republican State Committee wants to get as many
students involved as possible,” Garcia said. “And the
students I’ve been working with are very enthusiastic about
Bush’s candidacy.”

Nonetheless, voting records compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau
indicate that election day participation among 18- to 34- year-olds
has dwindled steadily, falling from 42.87 percent in the 1980
Reagan/Carter race to 32.83 percent in 1996.

And researchers’ projections for next week don’t
suggest this year will be any different.

Election expert and UCLA political science Professor Joel
Aberbach said this is why the major candidates tend to direct their
policy proposals toward the baby boom and retirement crowd.

“They turn out in heavier numbers and have a set of
identifiable issues, which is why the politicians pay the majority
of their attention to them,” Auberback said. “The
problem with young people is that, maybe because they’re less
interested or have a lot going on in their lives, they turn out in
lower numbers.”

But Youth Vote 2000 Coalition executive director Julia Cohen,
who has spent two years encouraging students to vote on Nov. 7 as
well as helping them organize politically, said politicians share
the responsibility for low turnout .

“I see it as a cycle of mutual neglect,” she said.
“Politicians don’t pay attention to younger voters
because they don’t vote, and they don’t vote because
politicians don’t reach out to them.”

But Aberbach said issues that are traditionally of concern to
young people, such as the environment, education and healthcare,
have been mentioned a great deal throughout this year’s
campaign.

“There’s been a lot of attention focused on these
issues, I just don’t think that it registers with
them,” she said.

But Cohen disagreed, and said it’s not that simple.

“Are they talking to and with young people about these
issues? Are they engaging them?” she asked. “I think
the answer to those questions is no.

“Out of the millions of dollars spent on adds, only a
small percentage of ads, if any, are directed at young
people,” Cohen added.

Garcia, who was at USC on Thursday rallying support for Bush,
echoed Cohen’s assessment.

“It’s not just the issue, but the way the issue is
addressed,” he said. “You don’t see the two major
candidates going to youth rallies.

“They’re not using the language that young people
want to hear,” Garcia added.

But Nader may be doing just that, appearing at numerous town
hall meetings at universities across the country. Though on a small
scale, he may have achieved an emotional connection with his
supporters, something not often cited among committed Bush and Gore
voters.

Hastings said Nader has energized young people, and that
they’ll be around long after the election.

“My sense is that we’ve really engaged them,”
he said.

“No matter what happens on Tuesday, it looks like
we’ve reached a group of young people that are future Green
Party candidates for all kinds of state, local and national
offices.”

Photo Illustration by MICHAEL FALCONE/Daily Bruin Senior
Staff