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The Youth Vote is within Biden's reach [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-09-15

There has been a lot of discussion lately as to Biden and how underappreciated he is among young people. I will talk about major disappointments people my age have with the administration and people will extrapolate that I think the Biden administration has done nothing for our cohort. That is not true, what is true is that his lack of engagement has created a vacuum where his most unpopular actions become what he is remembered for in the unengaged. Politico recently did an opinion piece on how Biden can avoid collapsing in popularity among the youth. The opinion piece really solidified some ideas I had been discussing with people who wondered why Biden struggles with popularity so much.

It isn’t that Biden needs to magically make all our problems disappear or that we blame him for the state of America. It is that while he has been grinding out practical victory after practical victory, the Republican train has been running off of the rails. He calls it out but he doesn’t reflect the heightened emotion people feel over the state of the country. Nobody wants him to be panicked or seem illogical, but his overly cool-headed approach makes him seem aloof. People want more than anything to be engaged. Progressive lawmakers like AOC and Ed Markey have engaged with young people in non-traditional ways and it has paid huge dividends in their turnout. These people are popular not just for an unapologetic embrace of progressivism but also for centering youth engagement in their campaigns.

Biden has done a few things to this effect, like inviting Dylan Mulvaney to the White House to discuss transgender issues, but has never gone in on a youth media blitz. It is amazing that a transgender person was invited to the White House to talk with the president and I appreciate how far transgender people have come in public acceptance, but this should be a weekly occurrence in the world where Republican influencer are firing on all cylinders to demonize and scapegoat trans people every day. Biden should be meeting with people that have connections to young people and spreading his message about his plans and how he has helped people as well as reassure them that he is tackling concerns that have yet to be tackled. He should have a more robust engagement team that regularly talks to youth activists and fields concerns from young people so they feel heard. I know having such an operation for the president would be more difficult and have to walk a finer line than in a reliably blue area like where AOC or Markey won elections. Even acknowledging that, he needs to step up his game. Most people my age really don’t see what Biden has done for them and until they feel like the campaign is listening to their concerns they will continue to feel that way.

To be clear, no one should be sitting out the political process. Even if someone thinks Joe Biden is terrible and inept they should realize that Trump represents a threat to the nature of our democracy itself. Anyone who does not understand that should get their head out of the sand and think about what’s at stake. Noting that and blaming people for being unengaged is unhelpful though. Civic engagement is a noble virtue but criticizing people for lacking it only make them more disaffected. If you are talking to an individual who thinks Joe Biden hasn’t done enough for the country and you say “you really need to be more informed on these issues,” then you can have a discussion on what they think and give them a basis to proceed. If you talk to a group of people who think Joe Biden hasn’t done enough for the country and say “you really need to be more informed on these issues,” then they will not have a chance to discuss their understanding so that you can point out what they are missing so they can take that step and start to educate themselves. They leave with the exact same understanding that their life has not materially improved and no one has taken their concerns seriously.

They will continue to be a big group of potential voters and they can either keep floating towards disengagement and low turn out or the Democratic party can interact with this group of people and invest money and time into making their concerns feel heard. Anyone that says Joe Biden has done nothing to help Americans is clearly wrong, but anyone who says the impetus should be on people who aren’t informed to inform themselves is going to wait along time for them to show up. Blaming the uninformed holds up from a perspective of individual responsibility. This isn’t about teaching people individual responsibility though, if we want to do everything to stop backwards laws and politicians from holding sway then the Democratic party and the people who are engaged need to be telling people how much has been done to help us and how much danger is on the other side of sitting it out. People do not know how much they do not know and thus those in the know must tell them. It isn’t your individual responsibility, but I would say it is part of your civic responsibility. It is certainly Biden’s responsibility as political candidate representing our interests not to leave these voters on the table, and I hope his campaign centers the sort of engagement that has been lacking as the campaign begins in earnest.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/15/2193476/-The-Youth-Vote-is-within-Biden-s-reach

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