Movements, celebrities target youth

P. Diddy, Eminem and MTV might not be your normal political advocates, but they have all made significant efforts this year to try to make voting a mainstream fad.\nIt's come in the form of movements like "Choose or Lose," "Vote or Die," "Declare Yourself," "I Decide," Eminem's new music video "Mosh" and the national campaign encouraging young people to "Rock the Vote." \nAnd candidates have been taking notice.\nDuring this year's campaign, candidates have pushed harder than ever to secure the coveted youth vote. \n"It's not the first time people have gone out and targeted younger voters on a pretty focused level," said IU-Purdue University I Assistant Professor of Political Science Ellen Andersen. "The youth vote was considered extremely important in 1972, which was the first time people 18 to 21 could vote."\nExpectations are that there is going to be some uptake in youth voting this year, said IU Political Science Rudy Professor Edward Carmines.\n"It's been since the Vietnam war and anti-war movements since there was a lot of interest among youth people in politics," he said. "I think this year the movements will have some impact more than what we've seen in previous elections."\nBut it's not just the movements and push for the vote that has people paying attention, the stars supporting the movements have gotten just as much attention.\nIUPUI Political Science Associate Professor Bill Blomquist said he can't remember a time when as many celebrities played high-profile roles in elections as they have this year.\n"The parties and candidates have often tried to increase registration and turnout among younger voters," he said. "but the concert tours, 'Vote or Die' campaign, and other hoopla this year have been more visible and noisier than I can recall."\nBlomquist said a combination of the issues involved in this election and the push for youth votes has definitely made a difference.\n"Certainly among students here there seems to be more interest in this year's election and more openness about being registered and planning to vote," he said.\nBut whether the increase in registration numbers means college students will actually cast their vote is another story, Andersen said.\n"The time you get that answer is after the election to see if all the folks who registered come out and vote," she said. "If half the people who registered for "Rock the Vote" came out and voted it'd be great, but I suspect it'd be more like one-third or one-fourth."\nWhile there has been a large number of registered youth voters, the number of people who understand the issues and candidates they will vote for does not always match up.\nAndersen said in terms of her own classroom, about one-third really do have a clear understanding of issues, what's going on and who the candidates are.\n"There's about another third who want to understand what's going on but feel like they just don't get it -- they haven't built up the kind of knowledge of the basic things like what makes a liberal a liberal and a conservative a conservative," she said.\nAndersen said it's also hard for young voters to gauge political affiliation because they don't have significant prior knowledge or experiences on which to base their votes.\n"There are folks in my classrooms now who were born 18 years ago, during the Reagan presidency and they barely have a memory of Bush I," she said. "Their political memory starts with Clinton and that's not a lot of background to draw on."\nAndersen said there still is about one-third of her class who couldn't care less about what happens or understanding the issues.\n"For people their age this is like a trial run for them, their first steps in, their first political role, some of them really want to participate and others just don't" she said. "Those three groups probably mirrors pretty well what goes on in the larger world around them."\nAndersen said youths are interested this year largely because of the issues being debated.\n"So many incredible things have happened since the last election including 9-11 and the war in Iraq," she said. "In terms of thinking about the war in Iraq, I think it's the youth vote that has the most direct awareness of what going to war means because they'll be the ones fighting it."\nAnd in a year of close elections, young voters can especially make a large impact, Andersen said.\n"I think there's absolutely no question that if the youth came out and voted anywhere near in the numbers of people that exist and vote consistently in one director or another, I think it could change the election," Andersen said. "Any small group that comes out and votes in higher numbers than usual can sway an election. The youth vote for example in Ohio can have a great impact."\nSeveral factors have contributed to the surge in youth interest in the election, said IUPUI Professor of Political Science Brian Vargus.\n"It's not like we haven't tried civic engagement here before," he said. "I think this time the moon aligned with the planets right or something, it just all came together and got college students really interested. I think also a lot of people have husbands, wives or friends who are serving on active duty."\nVargus said when "Rock the Vote" came to do a voter registration drive at IUPUI, about 1,000 students turned out to the event.\nBut movements, groups and voter registration drives aren't the only way celebrities and groups are trying to target the youth vote. Grammy award winning rapper Eminem has made his political views clear in his new music video "Mosh" which targets Bush and his policies concerning the war in Iraq and has also attracted attention from younger voters.\nThe video, which gets significant playing time on MTV, shows headlines about the war in Iraq and shows animated soldiers and citizens angry with current national conditions getting together and rallying to vote to change policy and the president.\nAnd while the lyrics and video attacks President Bush, it also calls for younger voters to take the opportunity to vote regardless of who it's for.\nJust like all the other movements, professors and attempts to get youths to the polls, the song calls for young voters to go out, vote and let their voice be heard.\n"Let us beg to differ as we set aside our differences and assemble our own army to disarm this weapon of mass destruction," Eminem writes in his song. "That we call our President, for the present and mosh for the future of our next generation to speak and be heard. Mr. President, Mr. Senator do you guys hear us...hear us..."\n-- Contact City & State editor Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.