Obama on Campus:
Cramming to Reclaim the
College Vote by Midterms
By Alex Wagner
White House Correspondent
For a few minutes on
Monday afternoon,
President Barack Obama
slipped back into his
former self. On the
phone with a group of
student journalists, he
had already made the
case for his
administration's
accomplishments -- the
ways in which his White
House had tackled
concerns relating to
education,
health care and the
economy. But he
wanted his young
audience to be very
clear about what's at
stake. And so, adopting
the gently authoritarian
tone of a
college professor,
the president announced:
"You can't sit it out.
You can't suddenly just
check in once every 10
years or so -- on an
exciting presidential
election -- and then not
pay attention during big
midterm elections where
we've got a real big
choice between Democrats
and Republicans."
On Tuesday, the
president will travel to
the University of
Wisconsin at Madison to
begin a series of
"campaign-style" events
at schools across the
country. The efforts are
part of a last-minute
White House bid to rally
the estimated
15 million "surge"
voters -- 18- to
29-year-olds -- who
helped hand him the keys
to the Oval Office in
2008. As the president
and his Democratic
Congress look down the
barrel to November, the
support of these young
Americans may be
critical in their fight
to stop the Republican
bullet from hitting its
target: namely, GOP
takeover of the House
and Senate.
For all the ink spilled
lately about the
president's
declining popularity,
he remains well liked
among what have been
termed "millennial
voters" -- young
voters who went to the
polls for the first time
in 2008 or will go for
the first time in 2010.
A Gallup poll conducted
Sept. 13-19 had Obama's
approval rating among
18- to 29-year-olds
at 55 percent -- a
drop from the
66 percent he
enjoyed in 2008, but
still not too shabby.
What's more, winning the
admiration of these
millennials might not
prove to be all that
difficult: on
nearly every major issue
held in high priority by
young voters, Obama has
made progress. According
to an
poll in early June
conducted by
Democratic-leaning think
tank NDN, millennials
valued health care,
education and financial
reform: issues the White
House has taken up with
gusto in the last 20
months:
On health care:
Millennials favor the
new health care law over
repealing it, (48
percent to 32 percent.)
Obama may win
specific points with
younger voters on this
issue: under the new
health care reform bill,
young adults can now
stay on their parents'
health plans until they
are
26 years old.
On education:
Concern with education
is high among
millennials (45
percent). What's more:
37 percent of
millennials consider the
cost of college
education a critical
issue.
The president can
point to a host of
incentives aimed at
making college more
affordable:
simplifying financial
aid forms, changing
the way in which
student loans are
administered,
increasing
college tax credits
for the middle class,
raising the value of
Pell Grants,
and the forgiveness of
college loan debt for
graduates who spend 10
years or more in public
service.
On financial reform:
Prior to passage of the
financial regulation
bill, millennials (43
percent to 28 percent)
expressed concern that
Congress wouldn't do
enough to protect
consumers and control
Wall Street excesses --
rather than fearing
congressional action
might go too far in
limiting investment
opportunities and future
growth.
On this issue, Obama
will cite his
successful push
to
pass Wall Street
reform --
the first financial
reform in the U.S. since
the Great Depression.
"It's a good strategy,"
said Mike Hais, who
conducted the NDN poll
and is the co-author of
Millennial Makeover:
MySpace, YouTube, and
the Future of American
Politics. But, said
Hais, actually getting
millennials to the
voting booths come
November, "is the tough
thing. There's still the
practical issue of
getting them motivated,
registered, and out to
the polls."
According to a recent
ABC News/Washington Post
poll, only 55
percent of 18- to
28-year-old voters said
they were "absolutely
certain" to go to the
polls this fall,
compared with 78 percent
of the 50- to
64-year-old crowd and 77
percent of those over
65.
And the same NDN poll
found that only 33
percent of millennials
felt the outcome of the
2010 elections was "very
important." Further, of
registered voters aged
18-29, 36 percent have
moved since 2008
elections, necessitating
new registrations and
new forms -- an extra
step for
paperwork-fatigued
college students and
recent graduates.
Still, if you listened
to the president on
Monday, this November --
regardless of one's
party affiliation --
sounded pretty
significant. "Democracy
is never a one-and-done
proposition," he said.
"It's something that
requires sustained
engagement and sustained
involvement."
Whether Obama can count
on his young foot
soldiers this fall will
depend as much on his
rhetorical skills as it
will their enthusiasm
for a battle -- one that
many are not even sure
they care to fight.
