By
Winograd and Hais
The latest
unemployment numbers and poll results
have led most observers to predict a
major setback for Democrats in the 2010
Congressional elections. But a year is a
lifetime in politics and much can change
between now and then to influence next
year's vote. As Ron Brownstein
recently pointed out, the
demographic makeup of the electorate is
likely to be a key factor in whether or
not the Democrats can maintain their
current majority margins in 2010. While
traditionally Democrats have focused on
turning out African-American and
Hispanic voters to offset Republican
strength among white male voters that
equation is no longer the only
calculation Democratic strategists need
to make.
Today the
level and intensity of interest among
Millennials young voters 18-28, is
equally important in ensuring Democratic
victories. But for that group of voters
to turn out in large numbers,
Congressional Democrats will have to
make a much more concerted effort than
they have to date to deliver on a series
of policy issues of major concern to
Millennials, the generation that
provided Barack Obama 80% of his popular
vote margin over John McCain in 2008.
As with
most other Americans, the number one
concern among Millennials is the state
of the economy and the need for jobs.
But Millennials have a unique
perspective on this issue, one that
Congress must understand and address.
Millennials believe there is a clear
link between education and employment
and are increasingly concerned that the
pathway through the educational system
into the world of work is becoming
increasingly more difficult and
expensive to navigate. Two-thirds of
Millennials who graduate from a
four-year college do
so with over $20,000 in debt. A
job market with Depression-level youth
unemployment (18.5%) and a wrenching
transformation of the types of jobs
America needs and produces makes the
implicit bargain of education in return
for future economic success harder for
Millennials to believe in every day.
Recently
Matt Segal, Executive Director of the
Student Association for Voter
Empowerment (SAVE) and Founder and
National Co-Chair of the "80 Million
Strong for Young Americans Job
Coalition"
presented some ideas to the House
Education and Labor Committee on
what Congress could do to address this
challenge. He advocated increased
entrepreneurial resources be made
available to youth; Senate action on the
student debt reform bill recently passed
by the House; more access to public
service careers through internships
and loan forgiveness programs; and the
creation of "mission critical" jobs in
such fields as health care,
cyber-security and the environment that
would tap the unique talents of this
generation. Coupled with the recent
passage of the Kennedy Serve America
Act, enacting these initiatives would
demonstrate that Democrats are serious
about improving the economic situation
of Millennials and, at the same time,
provide organizing ammunition in the
2010 campaign.
Of course
no economic program can ignore the
impact of health care on this
generation's-and America's-economic well
being. Many of the entry-level jobs
young people seek and obtain come from
employers who simply can't afford to
provide health care coverage under
today's system. Young adults between the
ages of 19 and 29 represent nearly a
third of all uninsured Americans, and
two-thirds of those uninsured young
people
reported going without necessary medical
care in 2007 because they could not
afford to pay for it.
As a
result,
polling has consistently indicated
that a majority of young people support
President Obama's health care proposal,
especially if it contains a public
option to control costs. One of the
more compelling components of the
president's plan for Millennials is that
it would allow parents to cover their
children through the family's health
insurance up to the age of 26 instead of
the current limit of 19. And
Millennials expect Congress to act. Only
a third of Millennials, as compared with
half of older generations, are concerned
that the government will become too
involved in health care.
Yet many
pundits continue to perceive health care
reform as an "old people's issue,"
likely to increase the turnout of
seniors, but not Millennials, in the
2010 elections.
Some have even suggested that
Millennials will object to a health care
system that limits the differential in
premiums insurance companies can charge
relatively healthy young people vs.
older, less well adults. But this
theoretical inter-generational transfer
of wealth is not likely to stir up much
opposition among Millennials. Unlike
the Baby Boomers of four decades ago,
Millennials do not speak to their elders
across a generation gap, but have
actually formed strong and enduring
bonds with their parents and come to the
public arena determined to find
solutions that work for people of all
ages. Already,
Young Americans for Health Care Reform
has accumulated 1200 fans on Facebook
since the group was formed less than a
month ago. If Congressional Democrats
can successfully negotiate passage of a
health care reform bill that provides
cost-effective coverage for the 30% of
Millennials who currently are not
insured, Democrats will have another
major arrow in their quiver going into
the 2010 election.
Millennials, like their GI Generation
great grandparents in the 1930s, are
facing economic challenges that caught
them by surprise and for which no one
prepared them. But Millennials aren't
looking for a handout or sympathy.
Instead, in the "can do" spirit of their
generation, they are organizing to
overcome the challenges created for them
by their elders. It's time for
Democrats in Congress to recognize these
concerns and the loyalty of a generation
that identifies as Democrats over
Republicans by a 2:1 margin. One way
to accomplish this is by passing
meaningful health care reform while
helping to create new pathways to
economic opportunity, especially for
young people who are just entering the
work force. Doing so now, as the battle
for 2010 shapes up, will help energize
the newest and most loyal element of the
Democratic Party's 21st Century
coalition, the Millennial Generation.
