Jam Piper Jam
Truth Seeker
Younger Blacks Tell Democrats to Take Notice
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/08/national/08VOTE.html?th
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? The debate had become a familiar one for LaShannon Spencer. As director of political affairs for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, Ms. Spencer, 30, is charged with taking the pulse of voters and keeping them connected to the party.
But at Cajun's Wharf, a restaurant and bar on the banks of the Arkansas River that is popular with young professionals, Ms. Spencer's political pitch was met with skepticism.
"Democrats just assume my political affiliation, based on my ZIP code or voting precinct," said Khayyam Eddings, a 31-year-old labor lawyer, referring to his predominantly black neighborhood. He was one of three African-American men engaged with Ms. Spencer in an animated discussion. "I don't cast my ballot based on learned behavior."
Mr. Eddings's comments were emblematic of what some Democratic strategists fear may be a growing problem: The party is perilously out of touch with a large swath of black voters ? those 18 to 35 years old who grew up after the groundbreaking years of the civil rights movement. It is a group too important and complex to ignore, many strategists caution, when analysts are predicting another close election.
Democrats have traditionally counted on more than 90 percent of the black vote. Blacks 18 to 35 make up about 40 percent of the black voting-age population, but turnout among young blacks was so low in the 2000 elections that they made up only 2 percent of the entire vote.
Democratic leaders are expressing concern about the disengagement. Young blacks are responding by warning the party not to take their votes for granted.
"Not only do I not see myself as part of the base," Nnamdi Thompson, a 30-year-old investment banker, told Ms. Spencer at the restaurant, "I wish the Democratic Party would stop seeing me as part of its base. We have more power as voters if they have to come and court us."
A 32-year-old lawyer, a friend of the other two who did not want his name used because he is in state politics, said: "I question whether the party sees us at all. First they calculate who they do not want" to alienate. "Then they decide on acceptable losses. We seem to fall into the acceptable losses."
Ms. Spencer, who is also African-American, said their frustrations were not unusual. "These are the concerns I hear over and over," she said. "These are people who care, people the party needs. If we could only convince them of that."
Over the years, African-Americans have proved a reliable source of support for Democrats, whom they viewed as more responsive than Republicans to their issues and concerns. But members of Generations X and Y, reared on hip-hop and the Internet, in a niche-market culture, are proving to be a tougher sell.
While still more closely aligned with Democrats than Republicans on issues like affirmative action and health care, younger blacks are more open to at least exploring initiatives shunned by the Democratic Party, like school vouchers and partial privatization of Social Security, polls show.
Polls also indicate that younger blacks place a higher priority than older African-Americans on issues like racial profiling and protecting civil liberties.
In 2000, 74 percent of African-Americans identified themselves as Democrats. By last year, that number had dropped to 63 percent, according to a recent survey by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research group devoted to African-American issues.
Those shifting away from the Democratic Party are not necessarily becoming Republicans. An overwhelming majority of blacks still vote Democratic. But an increasing number, especially those 18 to 35, are identifying themselves as independents. Some 24 percent of black adults now characterize themselves that way. Among those 35 and under, said David Bositis, a senior researcher at the Joint Center who conducted the survey, the figures are 30 percent to 35 percent, with men leaning more heavily independent than women.
For Democrats, the downside of weaker partisan ties is twofold. Unlike older blacks, many of whom vote consistently because they remember a time when they could not, younger blacks are more prone to sit out an election if no candidate grabs their interest. And even if they are not registered Republicans, younger blacks are more open to supporting Republican candidates and issues than older blacks. Sylvester Smith, 27, whose mother was a Democratic state legislator in Arkansas, is a policy adviser for minority affairs for Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican.
"I have a Frederick Douglass philosophy," said Mr. Smith, who voted for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race and remains a registered Democrat. "I believe African-Americans have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests."
For Democratic leaders the trends are a worrying sign that their base, as it has traditionally been defined, is not as stable as it used to be. "This is very disconcerting for us going forward," said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "It is critical that we do a better job of connecting."
If state party campaign plans do not include "integral, aggressive outreach strategies" aimed at young nonwhite voters," Mr. McAuliffe said, "they will not be approved and funded" by the national committee.
The move by younger African-Americans away from strong partisan affiliation mirrors that of younger whites. But Mr. Bositis and others studying the issue argue that the shift in African-American behavior is more damaging for the Democratic Party because of its heavy dependence on black voters.
Cornell Belcher, a pollster who specializes in minority and youth constituencies, contends the message in the trends is clear. "This group really should be considered swing voters to be targeted specifically," he said. "But if you look at or listen to the typical political ads aimed at black voters, there is a huge disconnect with younger blacks."
When Michael L. Steele, a black Republican, ran for lieutenant governor of Maryland with Robert L. Erlich Jr. in 2002, he hired a consultant to design radio advertisements specifically for the state's major hip-hop radio stations. Tapping into frustration among black voters over the fact that Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Democratic candidate for governor, had chosen a white running mate, the radio spots used tag lines like, "Why must African-Americans always wait?"
Mr. Erlich and Mr. Steele won the election, ending a 36-year Democratic hold on the Statehouse. The team not only swung traditionally Democratic white voters, it also received 14 percent of the black vote, the largest percentage of African-American votes ever for a Republican ticket in Maryland. In Baltimore, one of the areas deluged with the hip-hop radio spots, the ticket won 30 percent of the black vote.
"Republicans took a pass on the civil rights agenda in the late 50's and early 60's, and it cost us," Mr. Steele, 44, said. "This is a door that has opened, and we can't let this pass." The Republican Party is pushing a series of political training seminars to groom nonwhite candidates.
In January, Democrats announced the formation of an African-American Leadership Council, aimed at black voters 18 to 35. Among its objectives is getting one million young African-Americans to register as Democrats and to vote in the next presidential election.
Some younger blacks around the country have taken strategic outreach into their own hands. In the 2002 campaign season, James Gee, 31, deputy chief of staff for Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, a Democrat, developed a test program aimed at younger voters called the Six Degrees Project. The program, which focused on Trenton, the majority black state capital, took a group of 140 voters and asked each of them to get 20 friends to the polls on Election Day. Using a computer program to cross reference and track the voters down to their voting station, team leaders were able to call their charges on Election Day if they failed to vote by the time they said they would.
While overall voter turnout in Trenton was a rather dismal 14 percent, it was 78 percent among the roughly 2,800 people in the Six Degrees Project. Mr. Gee said he would like for the state party to expand on the program.
"Rather than having candidates showing up in black churches preaching and waving a week before elections," Mr. Gee said, "I'd rather see us use a real quantitative approach to targeting black voters."
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/08/national/08VOTE.html?th
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? The debate had become a familiar one for LaShannon Spencer. As director of political affairs for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, Ms. Spencer, 30, is charged with taking the pulse of voters and keeping them connected to the party.
But at Cajun's Wharf, a restaurant and bar on the banks of the Arkansas River that is popular with young professionals, Ms. Spencer's political pitch was met with skepticism.
"Democrats just assume my political affiliation, based on my ZIP code or voting precinct," said Khayyam Eddings, a 31-year-old labor lawyer, referring to his predominantly black neighborhood. He was one of three African-American men engaged with Ms. Spencer in an animated discussion. "I don't cast my ballot based on learned behavior."
Mr. Eddings's comments were emblematic of what some Democratic strategists fear may be a growing problem: The party is perilously out of touch with a large swath of black voters ? those 18 to 35 years old who grew up after the groundbreaking years of the civil rights movement. It is a group too important and complex to ignore, many strategists caution, when analysts are predicting another close election.
Democrats have traditionally counted on more than 90 percent of the black vote. Blacks 18 to 35 make up about 40 percent of the black voting-age population, but turnout among young blacks was so low in the 2000 elections that they made up only 2 percent of the entire vote.
Democratic leaders are expressing concern about the disengagement. Young blacks are responding by warning the party not to take their votes for granted.
"Not only do I not see myself as part of the base," Nnamdi Thompson, a 30-year-old investment banker, told Ms. Spencer at the restaurant, "I wish the Democratic Party would stop seeing me as part of its base. We have more power as voters if they have to come and court us."
A 32-year-old lawyer, a friend of the other two who did not want his name used because he is in state politics, said: "I question whether the party sees us at all. First they calculate who they do not want" to alienate. "Then they decide on acceptable losses. We seem to fall into the acceptable losses."
Ms. Spencer, who is also African-American, said their frustrations were not unusual. "These are the concerns I hear over and over," she said. "These are people who care, people the party needs. If we could only convince them of that."
Over the years, African-Americans have proved a reliable source of support for Democrats, whom they viewed as more responsive than Republicans to their issues and concerns. But members of Generations X and Y, reared on hip-hop and the Internet, in a niche-market culture, are proving to be a tougher sell.
While still more closely aligned with Democrats than Republicans on issues like affirmative action and health care, younger blacks are more open to at least exploring initiatives shunned by the Democratic Party, like school vouchers and partial privatization of Social Security, polls show.
Polls also indicate that younger blacks place a higher priority than older African-Americans on issues like racial profiling and protecting civil liberties.
In 2000, 74 percent of African-Americans identified themselves as Democrats. By last year, that number had dropped to 63 percent, according to a recent survey by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research group devoted to African-American issues.
Those shifting away from the Democratic Party are not necessarily becoming Republicans. An overwhelming majority of blacks still vote Democratic. But an increasing number, especially those 18 to 35, are identifying themselves as independents. Some 24 percent of black adults now characterize themselves that way. Among those 35 and under, said David Bositis, a senior researcher at the Joint Center who conducted the survey, the figures are 30 percent to 35 percent, with men leaning more heavily independent than women.
For Democrats, the downside of weaker partisan ties is twofold. Unlike older blacks, many of whom vote consistently because they remember a time when they could not, younger blacks are more prone to sit out an election if no candidate grabs their interest. And even if they are not registered Republicans, younger blacks are more open to supporting Republican candidates and issues than older blacks. Sylvester Smith, 27, whose mother was a Democratic state legislator in Arkansas, is a policy adviser for minority affairs for Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican.
"I have a Frederick Douglass philosophy," said Mr. Smith, who voted for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race and remains a registered Democrat. "I believe African-Americans have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests."
For Democratic leaders the trends are a worrying sign that their base, as it has traditionally been defined, is not as stable as it used to be. "This is very disconcerting for us going forward," said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "It is critical that we do a better job of connecting."
If state party campaign plans do not include "integral, aggressive outreach strategies" aimed at young nonwhite voters," Mr. McAuliffe said, "they will not be approved and funded" by the national committee.
The move by younger African-Americans away from strong partisan affiliation mirrors that of younger whites. But Mr. Bositis and others studying the issue argue that the shift in African-American behavior is more damaging for the Democratic Party because of its heavy dependence on black voters.
Cornell Belcher, a pollster who specializes in minority and youth constituencies, contends the message in the trends is clear. "This group really should be considered swing voters to be targeted specifically," he said. "But if you look at or listen to the typical political ads aimed at black voters, there is a huge disconnect with younger blacks."
When Michael L. Steele, a black Republican, ran for lieutenant governor of Maryland with Robert L. Erlich Jr. in 2002, he hired a consultant to design radio advertisements specifically for the state's major hip-hop radio stations. Tapping into frustration among black voters over the fact that Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Democratic candidate for governor, had chosen a white running mate, the radio spots used tag lines like, "Why must African-Americans always wait?"
Mr. Erlich and Mr. Steele won the election, ending a 36-year Democratic hold on the Statehouse. The team not only swung traditionally Democratic white voters, it also received 14 percent of the black vote, the largest percentage of African-American votes ever for a Republican ticket in Maryland. In Baltimore, one of the areas deluged with the hip-hop radio spots, the ticket won 30 percent of the black vote.
"Republicans took a pass on the civil rights agenda in the late 50's and early 60's, and it cost us," Mr. Steele, 44, said. "This is a door that has opened, and we can't let this pass." The Republican Party is pushing a series of political training seminars to groom nonwhite candidates.
In January, Democrats announced the formation of an African-American Leadership Council, aimed at black voters 18 to 35. Among its objectives is getting one million young African-Americans to register as Democrats and to vote in the next presidential election.
Some younger blacks around the country have taken strategic outreach into their own hands. In the 2002 campaign season, James Gee, 31, deputy chief of staff for Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, a Democrat, developed a test program aimed at younger voters called the Six Degrees Project. The program, which focused on Trenton, the majority black state capital, took a group of 140 voters and asked each of them to get 20 friends to the polls on Election Day. Using a computer program to cross reference and track the voters down to their voting station, team leaders were able to call their charges on Election Day if they failed to vote by the time they said they would.
While overall voter turnout in Trenton was a rather dismal 14 percent, it was 78 percent among the roughly 2,800 people in the Six Degrees Project. Mr. Gee said he would like for the state party to expand on the program.
"Rather than having candidates showing up in black churches preaching and waving a week before elections," Mr. Gee said, "I'd rather see us use a real quantitative approach to targeting black voters."
