Biden literally won in 2020 with strong youth turnout while Clinton lost in 2016 with a weak one. Historically, youth turnout is extremely important for Democrats, and people continually dismissing their value will only harm that effort.
No one is dismissing their value. It’s exciting to see them energized. The youth vote has been trending up and that’s awesome for many reasons. But we may need another election or two to see if it will hold or if it’s a reaction to Trump that will revert to norms once he’s gone.
If it holds, I think we are likely to see some changes in political calculus.
This is the problem. You’re demanding that young voters just naturally show up for multiple voting cycles before you think politicians should try to court them. Why on earth would you expect that to work? Would you expect that to work for black voters or women? Voter motivation doesn’t rise and fall based on its own, it’s something politicians actively work to inspire. It wasn’t an accident that Obama had great turnout and Clinton had poor turnout.
“The youth are notorious for low turnout. That’s why Kamala Harris (and possibly her VP) increasing their turnout isn’t important.”
More like being popular with a demographic who doesn’t show up to vote hasn’t historically been a good way to win elections.
If they actually show up this time, awesome.
Biden literally won in 2020 with strong youth turnout while Clinton lost in 2016 with a weak one. Historically, youth turnout is extremely important for Democrats, and people continually dismissing their value will only harm that effort.
https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/half-youth-voted-2020-11-point-increase-2016
No one is dismissing their value. It’s exciting to see them energized. The youth vote has been trending up and that’s awesome for many reasons. But we may need another election or two to see if it will hold or if it’s a reaction to Trump that will revert to norms once he’s gone.
If it holds, I think we are likely to see some changes in political calculus.
This is the problem. You’re demanding that young voters just naturally show up for multiple voting cycles before you think politicians should try to court them. Why on earth would you expect that to work? Would you expect that to work for black voters or women? Voter motivation doesn’t rise and fall based on its own, it’s something politicians actively work to inspire. It wasn’t an accident that Obama had great turnout and Clinton had poor turnout.
Maybe the party should continue to listen to them. That seems to be working.