During the last presidential election, young voter turnout was unprecedented. Among Democrats, the overall turnout jumped 90 percent in 2008, compared to four years earlier. Young Democrats’ participation jumped 135 percent.
Will the same number of young Virginians come out to vote for their future governor?
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Creigh Deeds, Democratic nominee for governor, appeared in front of a young crowd on Sunday, as he made a campaign stop at UVA. Republican nominee Bob McDonnell stopped at the University last week. Both candidates are trying to win over the youth vote. |
Although both camps, Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell, are catering to young demographics with higher education plans in their platforms, Isaac Wood, assistant communications director at UVA’s Center for Politics, says that it may not be the case. “I think it’s definitely out of the realm of possibilities that you will see youth turnout to the degree that you saw in 2008,” he told C-VILLE. “First of all, it’s a gubernatorial election and the interest is just not there. It also doesn’t receive the same attention in the media.”
Yet, both campaigns are seeing an increase in interest from young people.
“Creigh is the state senator for the city,” says Nick Bernstein, Charlottesville City organizer for the Deeds campaign and recent university graduate. “People around here know him and love him and they are eager to come out and see him win.”
Jane Miller, Albemarle County organizer for Deeds and 2007 UVA graduate, says that high school students have been very active and engaged with the Deeds campaign. One of her interns will soon turn 15 and was involved with the campaign during the primaries, and with the Obama campaign last year. “I think that there are people who are almost too young to get involved with Obama, but even a year later, they can do even more to help out and they want to capture that moment moving forward,” she says.
Christian Schoenewald, chairman of the Albemarle County Republican Committee, has seen the same interest in the McDonnell campaign.
“We are seeing a lot of involvement, particularly with high school kids, juniors and seniors in high school,” he says. On any given night, anywhere from a dozen to two dozen high schoolers populate the GOP offices around the city and county. “We actually saw the same amount of involvement from the high school kids in last year’s elections as well,” says Schoenewald. “There is a lot of excitement, there is a lot of engagement and they really seem to be enthusiastic this year.”
Wood says that this year’s excitement among young Republicans is attributed to McDonnell’s appeal and age. “I think that definitely young Republicans are more easily identified with Bob McDonnell than they did with John McCain in 2008,” he says.
Both candidates are also trying to reach out to young voters with their platforms. McDonnell, who was at UVA on Monday, August 17, lauded Darden’s initiative to test Kindles as an alternative to cut down on the cost of textbooks. He is also calling for an additional 100,000 degrees in the next 15 years. “He truly feels that higher education ought to be one of the top priorities for investment,” says Crystal Cameron, McDonnell’s press secretary. McDonnell’s plan also includes targeting technology, the sciences and other high-demand sectors, and lowering tuition.
Schoenewald says that in his experience, young people are concerned about “pocketbook issues.” “When I listen to the kids who are volunteering and I listen to them talk, they are talking about the issues, they are concerned about things like health care, and primarily what is it going to do to them when they get into the professional world,” he says.
According to Jared Leopold, a Deeds spokesperson, the senator’s record on education during his years in the General Assembly will stand out to young voters.
“Everyone who has gone through school knows the importance of having good schools and having good teachers and the importance of making sure that it’s well funded.”
Deeds’ education plan includes an additional 70,000 degrees in the next 10 years, ensuring access to quality pre-kindergarten programs, increasing the number of Virginians pursuing higher degrees and improving teacher’s pay.
Bernstein says that last year’s youth involvement was just the starting point. “I think that’s going to persist this year and future years,” he says.
Regardless of what is happening on the national stage, “both sides are doing what they can to capture some of the youth momentum that has been created,” says Wood.
In 2005, Deeds and McDonnell squared off for the Attorney General seat and McDonnell won by 360 votes out of more than 2 million cast ballots.
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