Hip-Hop Largely Ignored in Midterm Election Youth Outreach

By Christopher Windham

Human Nature magazine

President Barack Obama and his administration have been pounding the pavement in the last month to drum up support among young voters for next week’s midterm elections of U.S. Congress members, and state and local officials.

The White House and Democrats, who typically receive overwhelming support from young voters, have been particularly worried about the potential drop off in the number of young voters participating in the Nov. 2 elections.

More than 22 million young people voted in 2008 election, according to exit polls. But recent polls project for youth voter turnout this year will be similar to levels seen in the 2006 midterm election when voters aged 18-29 made up only 12% of all voters.

A poll released last week by the Harvard University Institute of Politics found that only 27% of 18-to-29-year-olds surveyed said they “definitely” will be voting in the midterm elections. An even lower number of young people (16%) said they “probably” will be voting. About 36% of young people surveyed said they either “definitely” or “probably” won’t be voting.

Cognizant of the projected voter apathy, President Obama has held rallies on college campuses, a town hall meeting on MTV, in addition to upcoming appearances this week on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and in Rolling Stone to stress the importance of voting in the mid-term election.

But largely absent from this year’s get-out-the-youth vote campaign has been the influential presence of hip-hop artists and personalities that propelled President Obama and other Democrats in 2008 president election.

Missing from this year’s election drive has been the concerts, rallies, public service announcements, high-profile endorsements and recognizable “Vote or Die” campaigns that triggered excitement among young people, who sought to help elect the nation’s first black president.

To be sure, there have been a few one-off efforts to encourage youth to participate in the mid-term elections. For example, Jay-Z recently released a PSA encouraging young people to vote on Nov. 2. Hip-hop band The Roots appeared with Obama at a rally held this month in their hometown of Philadelphia.

And hip-hop artist B.o.B recently performed at a rally held in Washington that featured President Obama. Common will also be appear at a rally with the president in his hometown Chicago.

But to some in the hip-hop community, The White House, Democrats and Republicans haven’t done enough outreach to the hip-hop’s influencers to rally the popular base behind the politicians’ midterm election efforts.

“While the stakes are equally as high, I don’t think they [politicians] have [reached out] and I don’t’ think they will,” says hip-hop radio and television personality Big Tigger. “I think they think hip-hop won’t grasp it because it’s too many [elections] versus people just rallying behind the black man.”

Big Tigger says such issues as education, jobs and HIV/AIDS could be selling points to get young people interested in the upcoming election. Big Tigger says through his radio show he’s been encouraging eligible, but unregistered voters, to register. For registered voters, Big Tigger says he’s urging them to be “intelligent and knowledgeable” voters.

Congressman Andre’ Carson, (D-Ind.), acknowledged that Democrats could do more to use hip-hop as a means to funnel its voter awareness message to the youth.

“We would have like to see the apparatus of the Democratic Party do more messaging to young people,” says Carson, who district encompasses Indianapolis. “We haven’t made a real connection.”

Carson, who recently hosted a panel of hip-hop culture experts at the Congressional Black Caucus’ recent Legislative Conference that examined hip-hop’s impact on American politics, said Democrats should do less poll watching and use more practical judgment when designing get out the vote campaigns.

“We’ve got to get beyond looking at poll numbers, or appealing to a certain demographic, and say hey these are people who were critical in getting Obama elected,” Carson says.

However, not everyone believes it’s the responsibility of politicians to get young people to the polls. Television personality Jeff Johnson, a specialist in cultural and political affairs, says the onus for raising voter awareness is with the community leaders and other organizations, not politicians.

“It’s our job to sell voting to our communities,” Johnson says. “It’s the job of the NAACP, National Urban League, churches and other civil organizations. If we’re waiting on the Democrats or Republicans to tell us why we need to vote we’ve lost our minds. That’s not going to happened. They are going to target the most likely voters. That’s their job.”

Johnson says the best way to attract young voters to the polls is to invite them into the conversation about what issues should be addressed in election campaigns.

“If you want to know what would mobilize young people, you have to ask them,” Johnson says. “No movement is created when you tell people what they should care about. We think young people don’t care. They care. We’re not asking them what they care about.”

Hip-hop producer/rapper 9^th Wonder says the disconnect between older and younger generation is one source of youth apathy toward voting. 9^th Wonder says elders generally minimize youth in discussions about fixing today’s problems.

“A lot of old people point down on young people, saying ‘you need to do this and do that,” he says. “Until that changes it’s going to all be the same.”

9^th Wonder says that bringing more prominent young politicians to the forefront of voter messaging could help pique youth interest in voting. He said it was important for youth to recognize the power of voting as well.

“It goes beyond hip hop,” 9^th Wonder says. “People don’t understand the power they have [in voting]. That’s the nature of young people sometimes, they don’t understand that power.”

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