Millennials: Technology and Presidential Campaigning

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Throughout history, U.S. political leader and candidates have embraced new technologies, including F. D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats on the radio and the first televised debates between R. Nixon and J. F. Kennedy, to communicate their message and connect with constituents (Vergeer, 2012). The expanding technological landscape today presents the future presidential candidates with the challenge of integrating the Internet and Social Media in their campaign strategy. Voter demographics are changing as the generation of Millennials, defined by Pew Research Center as citizens born between 1977 and 1992 (Zickuhr, 2010), fill the entire young voter population and begin to enter the adult voter pool. At the time of the 2016 Presidential election, the entire young voter population will be comprised entirely of young adults born and raised with technology in their lives. This essay will show how, with the growing voter population of Millennials, a U.S. presidential candidate cannot succeed without an appropriate Social Media strategy in place.

Who are the Millennials?

Millennials, according to Pew Research Center (2012), the newest generation of young voters, are the most racially and ethnically diverse age group to date. Voters aged 18-29 report as only 58% white non-Hispanics, 18% Hispanic, 17% African American and 7% mixed or other. In comparison voters aged 30 and older report as 76% white non-Hispanic, 8% Hispanic, 12% African American, and 4% other. In addition to a more racially diverse population, women outnumber the men at 55% in ages 18-44 compared with approximately 51% ages 45 and older. Another factor that plays a significant role in the shift in demography is religion, young voters report attending regular church ser...

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...eau [WWW Document]. URL http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2008/tables.html (accessed 12.12.13a).
US Census Bureau, D.I.D., n.d. Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2012 - Tables - Census Bureau [WWW Document]. URL http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2012/tables.html (accessed 12.12.13b).
Vaccari, C., 2010. “Technology Is a Commodity”: The Internet in the 2008 United States Presidential Election. Journal of Information Technology & Politics 7, 318–339.
Vergeer, M., 2013. Politics, elections and online campaigning: Past, present . . . and a peek into the future. New Media Society 15, 9–17.
Zhang, W., Seltzer, T., Bichard, S.L., 2013. Two Sides of the Coin: Assessing the Influence of Social Network Site Use During the 2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign. Social Science Computer Review 0894439313489962.

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