by Heather Cone

Created on: June 02, 2009

With the exception of the 2008 presidential election, over the past few decades young American voter turnout has seen a major decline. The same age group that once protested the Vietnam War and marched for civil rights now sits comfortably in their homes and shrugs their shoulders with each political speech.

This age group is typically America's idealist, the young who disrupt the status quo and demand change. It is not that these 18-24 year olds don't care; it's simply that the politics of today are not speaking to them.

The main political concerns in each election are taxes, the economy and believe it or not, abortion. This agenda appeals to middle America because it directly impacts the middle class. Young Americans however, tend to be less concerned with these issues for a variety of reasons. They typically are not working in their chosen profession yet nor do they own their own homes. Due to this the tax and economy debates are ignored.

Young Americans also tend to favor a stand-off approach to abortion. As a group, they don't feel it is their place to say "yay" or "nay" to someone else's decision. Without a clear stance, this issue also sidelines many of the young voters.

In order to get young people off their couches and into a voting booth the political agenda must appeal to their needs. Issues such as funding for college education, career training programs, health care and the environment all topped the list of 18-24 year old's concerns, according to the "Association of Young Americans" recent survey.

Many young people feel that their voice is muted by the louder older generation and often the marketing strategies of the politicians ignores this demographic. Their response is then to abandon politics. Marketing campaigns such as "Rock the Vote" have proven success at converting this younger generation into voters. Demonstrating that when spoken to and given the opportunity, young Americans want to be involved.

So it is clear that when trying to attract this demographic, not only do the issues have to be pertinent, but marketing cannot be ignored. This young generation has grown up on marketing campaigns and spoon fed by the media what to consider cool. If politics wants to attract these votes, they must follow suit and create hip campaigns that draw attention to the concerns of this age group.

One of the reasons Obama did so well in this past election was because he was able to draw on the young American voters. They turned out to vote because the issues were well marketed directly to them. Giving them a feeling of belonging and importance.

When young voters understand that their vote counts, they will return to politics.

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