Q: How do you get young people more involved in politics?
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008A: First Vote journalist Bryn Lawrence tracked down 11 presidential candidates in Iowa to get answers to this one simple question.
Candidates shouldn’t have to look very far to find one of the reasons students aren’t involved in their campaigns. Typical campaign stops are during the school day and most visits are far from any school or campus. The lack of young adults at campaign events serves as a microcosm of the larger problem. That generation shows little interest in politics and the politicians don’t target them.
It’s unfortunate that the younger generation isn’t involved since many of the major issues, like the war and Social Security, will have a great impact on that age group. Luckily, a majority of the candidates do talk frequently about handing down the country to the next generation in better shape.
Most students don’t pay taxes, worry about health insurance, or have kids in a failing public school. Likewise, the candidates lack reasons to target us in their campaigns. We don’t have money to donate, we don’t show up for the caucuses and it’s difficult to get our attention.
I found that many of the students who did show up had already decided whom they would caucus for. They just came to see their candidate in real life. This served as a reassuring experience for them since caucusing can feel like a big commitment.
Curiosity also motivated many of the young adults who showed up at events. Several students at a Bill Clinton event in DeWitt showed up just to see the former president. Some of them were even Republicans who planned to vote for Huckabee or Romney. John Edwards was onto something when he said the younger crowd looks for causes to join. A good example is high school student Zoe Grueskin, who believes strongly in protecting the environment. That issue got her involved in the Obama campaign.
Finally, while students do need to become more aware of politics, it’s not a big deal that they aren’t showing up at these events. Figuring out which candidate to vote for doesn’t require meeting them since many of the speeches are loaded with wishful thinking and ridiculous proposals. Even though personality and character carry importance in electing a president, these traits are hard to find while meeting a candidate.
Bryn Lawrence
Augustana College
Barack Obama
LeClaire Park, Sept. 12; Coralville Marriott, Oct. 2; Quad-City Times Editorial Board, Dec. 18.
Barack Obama has had an enormous amount of success courting the young vote. Crowds of young people normally come to his rallies. To get them involved in the campaign, Obama has targeted students as young as high school age by starting groups called the “Barack Stars.” Jake Pilcher of Bettendorf said he first heard about the group at school. Later, he went to the Obama office where he found out more information and volunteered for the campaign.
Some students have gotten involved in the Obama campaign because he’s shown an interest in them too.
I finally got the chance to ask Obama at the Quad-City Times Editorial Board interview. He said young adults really haven’t had opportunities until recently to get involved. “There haven’t been any outlets for them.” He said his campaign has given students real opportunities and that his volunteers don’t just do simple things like get coffee. “We’ve given them substantive ways to get involved.”
Chris Dodd
Bettendorf VFW Post, Nov. 12; Quad-City Times Editorial Board interview, Dec. 14.
After missing my turn and driving past a few times, I finally pulled into the Bettendorf VFW hall’s small gravel parking lot. Inside, no one at the bar had heard of Chris Dodd. The ladies playing bridge in the side room hadn’t heard of him either. At the entrance, a sign taped to the door said I was a day early.
The next night the parking lot overflowed with cars parked in uncomfortable directions. Inside, the signup table blocked entry to the room where Dodd would speak. After signing in, supporters gathered in the side room, behind a sliding wooden curtain keeping out the bar noise. The curtain also divided the intensely interested activists from the veterans who just wanted a drink.
The U.S. senator told the crowd full of veterans that the country needed to provide students with opportunities for national service and require community service as a part of high school graduation.
Dodd, a Peace Corps as well as National Guard veteran, told me these types of service would encourage students to become more involved in the political process.
A few months later the senator gave me a more extensive response at a Quad-City Times Editorial Board interview. I asked why more students weren’t involved in politics. He first jokingly said, “Well, they’re chasing girls and having a good time.” Then he offered a more sober response: “If people feel comfortable enough, and you’re serious enough, and you’re truly interested and you don’t talk down, and you treat them as adults, you’d be amazed at how (much) earlier you could begin this process,” he said. “I think we start too late at the collegiate level or post-high school level.”
Fred Thompson
Coralville Marriott, Oct. 2; Thunder Bay Grille, Dec.7.
Greg Baker, president of the College Republicans at the University of Iowa, is one of the students who believe candidates need to do a better job of targeting young voters. He said if issues like college tuition were mentioned more, students would become more interested. 
Baker cheered on Fred Thompson at a campaign stop in the Coralville Marriott. He came with a handful of members who also had some input on why students aren’t more involved. Amy Cheng said students think they should let politicians take care of politics because they’re busy with their own lives. She also thinks students are cynical because there’s a “stereotype of politicians wanting to win elections and not keeping their words.” When Thompson finished speaking, he didn’t take questions from the audience.
At a later Thompson visit, an overflowing crowd crammed inside of a dining room at the Thunder Bay Grille in Davenport. This time Thompson brought his wife along and happily answered my question. He said, “I think (students are) pretty involved. You know, as I go around I see a lot of young people actively involved.” He then said, “You might ask why older Americans aren’t more involved in politics too.”
At the rally there were only a handful of students and a few children accompanying their parents.
Tom Tancredo
Shooting Sports Unlimited, Moline, Oct. 26.
A handful of Tancredo supporters gathered at a shooting range, lining up awkwardly to greet their candidate, who chatted with them shyly and without an apparent agenda. The supporters showed up with video cameras, guns and ammunition to meet the congressman. A small shooting range hid down a hallway and behind a few doors. Tancredo’s supporters huddled in the nearby shooting stalls to watch him take aim.
The congressman loaded his gun slowly, not talking much. After putting on ear protection, he took a two-handed grip on the gun and shot the entire clip at a paper target featuring the silhouette of a man. A supporter then pointed out that his aim missed to the left on every shot. The congressman laughed hysterically.
Tancredo’s advisor asked me if I’d like to take a few shots, then handed me a gun. Since it was my first time, he gave me a crash course and turned me loose on the paper target. I fired at least eight times, wounding my paper target victim in the head and neck.
Later on, Tancredo sat on a stool and signed paper targets, “Keep the faith, Tom Tancredo.” After signing targets he chatted freely with a few late comers, grinning the whole time. One asked him what should be done about incidents like Columbine. He paused, and told the voter of his pro-family stance and how abortions should be made illegal. “What does that teach kids about the value of life?” he said.
I was the only one under 30 at the event and Tancredo had this to say to my question about student involvement: Young adults aren’t involved because they’re too busy. He attended college during the Vietnam War and said that this got students involved. “It’s unfortunate that’s the only time when people are involved,” he said about times of war.
John Edwards
Davenport North High School Auditorium, Nov. 19; Quad-City Times Editorial Board interview, Dec. 14.
Students crammed into the Davenport North High School auditorium for a rally with John Edwards and musicians Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. Then they ended up squirming in their seats. Edwards was an hour late. The students seemed to enjoy the music, though none I interviewed had ever heard of Raitt or Browne. Afterward, I joined other reporters surrounding Edwards and asked my question.
He said young people are drawn to causes and issues rather than the political process. “I think the campaign of causes and change we’re running is something they’ll respond to,” he said. His response certainly scored highest with me for insight and originality.
Later at a Quad-City Times Editorial Board interview, I asked him to elaborate. Edwards said “I don’t think young people are driven by party politics.” He also emphasized the importance of visiting with students. “I don’t talk at them or down to them, but I treat them as equals and I listen to them.”
Mitt Romney
Best Western Steeplegate Inn, Davenport, Oct. 16.
I skipped a geography class and grabbed a quick lunch on the drive to catch the former Massachusetts governor at a hotel conference room on Davenport’s far north side. He arrived a half hour late. He spoke, then took questions and eventually called on me. He pointed out that the candidates don’t target the younger generation enough while campaigning. “Maybe it’s partly our fault, those of us who are running for office. We don’t spend more time on campus and we probably should spend more time with students and say, ‘guys get involved and get educated.’”
How true. Unfortunately, this event was miles from the nearest college campus and smack in the middle of the school day.
Rudy Giuliani
Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, Oct. 24.
Ninety minutes after he was scheduled to appear, Rudy Giuliani showed up to a warm cheer, then headed straight for a restroom. When he returned, one supporter suggested Giuliani should have opened the bar if he was going to be so late.
The mayor spoke for 20 minutes, drawing strong applause, then took questions. I kept my hand up through Q & A about taxes and torture. Then he called on me.
“I think there’s a certain feeling about government now that we’re going to have to change; that you can’t get anything done,” he said. “So that may create a little bit less enthusiasm for politics.”
He also blamed the negativity in politics for the cynicism in young voters. “And it almost seems like politics gets organized around personalities and usually in a negative way.” He said. “Like a lot of Democratic politics is organized around anger at President Bush. It’s not healthy. And some of our politics is organized around anger at Hillary Clinton.”
Bill Richardson
Davenport River Center, Nov. 2.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson intended to campaign on veterans’ issues at the Davenport River Center. He spoke from an executive podium and introduced his entourage of war vets who were endorsing his candidacy. Scheduled to start at noon, Richardson arrived a bit late and I missed another class.
I tracked down the governor after the event and he responded to my question by saying he’s noticed a lot of cynicism in young adults. “Candidates need to be more genuine and pro-student and address issues like college loans like I am.” He said. “I think students are very cynical about politicians. They kind of think it’s all just trying to get votes and raise money.” The governor thought that engaging students in the political process through programs like national service would help get them involved in politics.
John McCain
North-Gate Place, Davenport, Dec. 13.
I missed my first chance to question U.S. Sen. McCain at a health care forum on the Genesis Medical Center campus in October. So I tracked him down at a town hall meeting two months later at the North-Gate Place, a banquet hall next to a Hy-Vee. I held my hand up through the entire question and answer session without any luck, so I joined a gaggle of autograph seekers afterwards. One woman had three books to sign. Several supporters handed me cameras to snap photos of them with the senator.
He kept shaking hands and signing autographs as he answered my question. “We’ve got to be into the issues they care about: education, national security, many issues. You’ve got to go to the venues that they watch. Not many get up early on Sunday morning to watch Sunday talk shows, but they do watch John Stewart and they watch … MTV and others.”
Hillary Clinton
Quad-City Times Editorial Board interview, Dec. 17.
My chance to ask the question to U.S. Sen. Clinton finally came at the editorial board interview. Clinton sat at the opposite end of the board room table and said she pushed hard for lowering the voting age to 18 during the 60s. She thought since the war in Vietnam was going on, changing the voting age would be “revolutionary since the elections were much more about their futures than mine.”
She also acknowledged that young people have a lot going on in their lives. “You’re learning, you know, to fend for yourselves, how to live away from your families. Relationships are really important. You’re trying to figure out what you want to do to make a living,” she said. “There’s just a lot unsettled.”
Clinton said she tries to connect issues young people are worried about with politics. “Global warming has that effect for some young people. They’re very invested in it,” she said. “The terrible situation in Darfur has motivated people to get involved.”
Mike Huckabee
Scott County Republican Party headquarters, Davenport, Dec. 21
I finally found former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on the Friday before Christmas at his party’s county headquarters. Out front, a huge portrait of him covered the side of the campaign bus. The driver spent several minutes trying to turn around in the tiny parking lot. Supporters were equally congested inside and overflowed into the hallway.
After his speech, Huckabee shook hands with the people who came. He looked relaxed, taking time to visit a bit with each of them and he gave an unhurried answer to my question.
“I don’t think they realize how much the next elections will affect them. Because truthfully it’ll affect you guys more than it will people of my generation.
“The next president could really mess things up more for you than he could mess it up for me.
Frantic campaigns aren’t exactly student friendly
Candidates shouldn’t have to look very far to find one of the reasons students aren’t involved in their campaigns. Typical campaign stops are during the school day and most visits are far from any school or campus. The lack of young adults at campaign events serves as a microcosm of the larger problem. That generation shows little interest in politics and the politicians don’t target them.
It’s unfortunate that the younger generation isn’t involved since many of the major issues, like the war and Social Security, will have a great impact on that age group. Luckily, a majority of the candidates do talk frequently about handing down the country to the next generation in better shape.
Most students don’t pay taxes, worry about health insurance, or have kids in a failing public school. Likewise, the candidates lack reasons to target us in their campaigns. We don’t have money to donate, we don’t show up for the caucuses and it’s difficult to get our attention.
I found that many of the students who did show up had already decided whom they would caucus for. They just came to see their candidate in real life. This served as a reassuring experience for them since caucusing can feel like a big commitment.
Curiosity also motivated many of the young adults who showed up at events. Several students at a Bill Clinton event in DeWitt showed up just to see the former president. Some of them were even Republicans who planned to vote for Huckabee or Romney. John Edwards was onto something when he said the younger crowd looks for causes to join. A good example is high school student Zoe Grueskin, who believes strongly in protecting the environment. That issue got her involved in the Obama campaign.
Finally, while students do need to become more aware of politics, it’s not a big deal that they aren’t showing up at these events. Figuring out which candidate to vote for doesn’t require meeting them since many of the speeches are loaded with wishful thinking and ridiculous proposals. Even though personality and character carry importance in electing a president, these traits are hard to find while meeting a candidate.
Bryn Lawrence
Augustana College
