Gen Y & Our Political Pull

Let’s face it – the political “game” does not have many surprises when it comes to how the game is played…(the results of the game is another story i.e. Sarah Palin…but that’s a post of another color).

Committees are formed, bids are announced, smear tactics abound, “he said/she said” ensues, and somewhere along the way the constituents are told what they care about instead of the other way around (okay – coming off my soapbox).

This is no more truth with the quarterlife age group of Generation Y.

The current age group of most “Gen-Yers” (ages 18-35) have long been ignored by political pundits and strategists. Considered to be too young and naive to possibly comprehend the long term effects of political decisions made during their youth, political contenders focus the majority of their speeches, promises and tactics (for lack of a better word) on middle-aged, middle class constituents.

The silent majority perhaps?

With the 2008 election, this generation has thrown a curve ball towards the political spectrum not  seen since the late 1960s. We have changed the way the “game” is played. Look to the most recent election and its after-effects to see our most recent creation. The Obama “machine” made no qualms about not only targeting younger voters, but utilizing them. There was movement. There was a sense of finally being talked to instead of talked at (and boy did we respond).

The 2008 election had the largest turn-out for voters under 35 than any other previous election. Granted, we still only had about 66 percent of our peers vote, it was still quite an achievement. Indeed this figure made the under 30 vote the largest contributing age group to Obama’s election. Not too shabby.

Since the election the “revolution” has not stopped – we’re the tech generation.  The social networking butterflies of generations. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. Here we had a presidential contender with a Facebook page and he updated it!! We saw a bit of ourselves in a candidate who was just as glued to his cellphone as we are. Perhaps the outcome of this election was the result of an outdated political system that was unable to keep up with the rapid pace of a techno world.

Now it seems every political player has a Twitter page.

Post-election, John McCain, a man who could barely send an e-mail, had a larger following on Twitter than any other member of the political stage…including Barack Obama!

With Generation Y becoming a power player in the political world, more and more campaigns are taking to the World Wide Web (thanks Al Gore!).  Ron Paul made heads turn just two years ago with his Internet campaign. n 2007, Paul broke records when he collected $6 million in Internet donations – the most money collected in a single day than any other presidential candidate in history!

But Gen Y has been making its presence known since the early ’90s.

Anyone remember Bill Clinton on MTV?

In 1993, after winning the presidential election, President Clinton discussed any and all topics that his “young” audience could come up with. Including his underwear (briefs, BTW).  So why did Clinton feel this is a necessary move when he’d already been elected to his nation’s highest office?

Re-election cynicism aside, Clinton realized what few did at that time. It’s an MTV world, and we’re just livin’ in it, my friends.  More and more people were turning away from the policy sphere of television with feelings of contempt for political pundits who talked and talked but rarely said anything.

Within this new forum, Clinton was able to not only reach an untapped subset of the population, but change the way many looked at the President of the Free World.  He can make a joke (unscripted even!). He can play the saxophone. He’s kind of…well…cool.

The impact of our generation isn’t only limited to the United States. Iran is a country with some interesting population statistics. More than two-thirds of the population is under the age of 30, one quarter being 15 years of age or younger. Now take this into account when considering Iran’s 2009 presidential election. Iran is a country that has long been involved in controversy surrounding mock elections.

Sure you can vote but it won’t change the results. With each questionable election, the population’s frustration has become louder and louder. With the majority of the population growing up in a technology-centric world, the Iranian government has had a more and more difficult time “containing” and controlling public opinion – that is, negative public opinion. Slowly we are seeing the Iranian government learn what the rest of the world is also learning – Generation Y is a new force. We don’t just play by the rules, we make new ones.