2012 Election: A Failure to Mobilize the Youth Vote

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The American youth voted in fewer numbers during Obama's reelection than for his first term. Michael P. McDonald points out this simple fact in his Huffington Post article from May 2013. He explains this decline both statistically and through the theory of mobilization, the later of which lacks substance and direction. He assumes the decline is because of campaigns failures to engage the youth, completely ignoring the complex motives behind a young voters turnout. Through the rational choice and resource models, these motives can be better deciphered. Additionally, McDonald only holds campaigns responsible for mobilization failures disregarding social interaction and the resultant effects of indirect mobilization.

McDonald’s article, “2012 Election: A Failure to Mobilize the Youth Vote”, clearly states that young voters voted less in 2012 than in 2008. Cited from the US Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), voters age 18 to 24 turned out 6.2 percent less in battle ground states and 8.8 percent less in all other states in the 2012 election. For a portion of the article McDonald explains this difference by way of a statistical non-response bias. Non-response, a natural error in surveying due to subject noncooperation, is unavoidable when polling the public. He notes that the CPS included non-response subjects as having not voted, a flaw in representing the data. His statistic reasoning is sound, but his theoretical explanation for the decline is underdeveloped. McDonald focuses his entire argument on mobilization. “The Obama campaign appears to be only marginally successful at counteracting youth disengagement through their mobilization efforts” (McDonald). He uses the dismal turnout numbers to then back up this clai...

... middle of paper ...

...02:1 pp. 33-48.

"Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey." Beaura of Labor Statistics. US Government, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. .

McDonald, Michael P. "2012 Election: A Failure to Mobilize the Youth Vote." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 May 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.

"Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change." Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends Project. Pew Research, 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.

Rosenstone, Steven J., and John Mark Hansen. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Pg. 25-37; 161-179 (BB)

Rutledge, Dr. Pamela. "How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012 Presidential Campaign." Pamela Rutledge Media Psychology Blog. The Media Pschology Blog, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.

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