 Prognosis Negative
Young people are the group most likely to be uninsured—and to support healthcare reform. If Democrats don't deliver it, they may stay home in November.
By Jesse Singal | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Feb 2, 2010
Here's something that should make David Axelrod nervous: there are probably more Yankees fans in Massachusetts than there are young people who voted in the Massachusetts Senate special election, which cost the Democrats their filibuster-proof supermajority. Just 15 percent of eligible voters under age 30 participated. The numbers were similarly dismal during two other Republican electoral victories from last fall. In the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, just 17 and 19 percent of potential young voters participated, respectively.
This wasn't just a fluke trifecta of uninspiring elections. It is, rather, part of a nationwide trend toward apathy among Americans under 30. Harvard's Institute of Politics (IOP), which regularly polls young people on political issues, found last fall that just 24 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds said that they were "politically engaged or politically active," a 19-point drop from a year earlier. This could mean trouble down the road for a Democratic Party that may have begun taking the youth vote for granted. Young voters, after all, turned out in record numbers for the 2008 election, and if they hadn't, Obama might not be in the White House. But if Democrats don't pass health-care reform, youth turnout may plummet.
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 Obama here for Coakley, trailing a diminished aura
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | January 17, 2010
WASHINGTON - The feverish excitement that propelled Barack Obama and scores of other Democrats to victory in 2008 has all but evaporated, worrying party leaders who are struggling to invigorate the base before Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate race and November’s critical midterm contests, pollsters and party activists said.
President Obama’s scheduled visit to the Bay State on behalf of Democratic candidate Martha Coakley today, a rescue bid planned suddenly by the White House last week after Republican Scott Brown pulled even or ahead in some polls, will be a key test of the president’s ability to reenergize his dispirited party.
But the challenges to getting an enthusiastic turnout for Democrats in 2010 are huge. Young voters and left-wing Democrats have become frustrated with progress on the Obama agenda in Washington. Polls show that Obama’s popularity among younger Americans is down.
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 A Republican rises in New England
Even experienced political observers are slightly incredulous at what has happened over the past week in Massachusetts: a Republican state senator most well known for posing nude in Cosmo 28 years ago and for his daughter’s appearance on “American Idol” is within striking distance of taking Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat – and possibly health-care reform – from the Democrats.
And Scott Brown has momentum.
“As a resident and voter and student of politics, it feels extremely, extremely close,” said John Della Volpe, an independent pollster and new media strategist in Boston with many years of involvement in Massachusetts politics.
“We’ve seen something viral in the old way of viral, people talking to one another. That’s what people are talking about: can you believe Scott Brown is this close? That’s what everybody is talking about,” Della Volpe said.
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Politik 2.0 - der Obama-Weg
Der neue US-Präsident Barack Obama nutzt wie kein anderer Politiker zuvor die Möglichkeiten des Web 2.0: "Er greift die Web 2.0-Prinzipien auf: Offenheit, Zusammenarbeit, Austausch zwischen Gleichgesinnten - und verändert damit die Politik", so John Della Volpe, Leiter der Abteilung Wahlforschung am Institut für Politik der Harvard Universität, gegenüber IIR. Spendengelder von mehr als 500 Millionen Dollar habe Obama über das Internet gesammelt und über Online-Kommunikation die "Millennium-Generation in 50 US-Staaten erreicht". Wie Web 2.0 auch künftig das politische Geschehen beeinflussen wird, erörtert Della Volpe auf dem Kongress. |
Wöchentliche Ansprache über das Internet
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Im Videocanal über Youtube gibt sich Obama gerne lässig
Der US-Präsident spricht traditionell jede Woche zu den Bürgern. Da bildet Barack Obama keine Ausnahme. Damit seine Botschaften bei den Wählern ankommen, wählt er eine klare, eindringliche Sprache, z. B. als es um das geplante 800-Milliarden-Dollar Konjunkturpaket geht: „Wenn wir nicht mutig und schnell handeln, dann wird eine schlechte Situation dramatisch viel schlechter. Deswegen habe ich einen Konjunktur und Investitionsplan vorgeschlagen, um sofort Arbeitsplätze zu schaffen und das Wirtschaftswachstum anzukurbeln.“
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