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SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

Meyerson on TAP

How to Turn Out Young Voters in November

Banging pro-choice drums has a distinctly positive effect, but Democrats
have to address the economy, too.

By the evidence of every known survey, today's young Americans are the
leftmost generation in many decades, perhaps in our entire history. But
will they vote in sufficient numbers this fall to block a Republican
takeover of the Senate and the House?

The conventional wisdom is that their pro-choice sentiments may drive
them to the polls, but their economic challenges may either keep them
away or even move some of them into the Republican column. A new poll

by Hart Research of nine states with closely competitive Senate
contests, which oversampled voters under 40 (it polled more than 800 of
them), shows, however, that the Democrats can still campaign profitably
on the economy, inflation notwithstanding.

Even though Republicans outnumbered Democrats in the poll's overall
sample, young voters in those states favored the Democratic Senate
candidates by a 48 percent to 42 percent margin. The top three most
important issues to those voters were "prices and inflation," with 55
percent highlighting that concern; "wages and salaries that keep up with
the cost of living," with 47 percent; and "abortion," with 43 percent.

The poll then teased out themes from that "wages and salaries" issue.
Asked whether companies or workers had too much power today over the
other, or whether their power was roughly balanced, 79 percent of young
voters said it was the companies that had too much power, versus the 7
percent who said it was workers and the 14 percent who said the
relationship was balanced. Seventy-seven percent of young voters said
they'd prefer a pro-union candidate, while 23 percent preferred an
anti-union candidate. After hearing a description of the PRO Act, which
is the latest iteration of congressional legislation making it easier to
join or form unions, 64 percent of young voters said they'd back a
Democrat who supports the act, while just 22 percent said they'd back
a Republican PRO Act opponent.

Singling out swing voters among the young, the way to their hearts, and
to get them to the polls, Hart Research concludes, is to emphasize such
messages as raising wages and salaries (which 63 percent of those young
swing voters say is an "extremely strong reason to support a Democratic
candidate"), and making sure that workers are not "punished or even
fired" for speaking out about problems on the job (68 percent).

In other words, abortion is still a crucial issue for Democrats to
stress, but there's also some economic messaging, despite inflation,
that will help turn out the young.

Coincidentally, today is the publication date of an important book aimed
chiefly at progressive readers that offers a sharp analysis of the voter
mobilization campaigns that enabled the Democrats to win in 2020, with
particular emphasis on what worked and what didn't in minority
communities. Edited by Linda Burnham, Max Elbaum, and Maria Poblet, with
essays by a host of movement activists and analysts,

**Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections**is
the best how-to guide to come out in recent years, at a moment when
empirically based how-to guides have never been more important.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

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A Swing-Seat Candidate Runs Against Corporate Power

Will Rollins, campaigning against a long-serving Republican, is waging
much of his race by fighting money in politics and corporate
concentration. BY DAVID DAYEN

[link removed]
Suspicious Gun Purchases Can Finally Be Tracked

A new merchant code for firearm and ammunition sales may sound like an
unremarkable change, but it could save lives, advocates say. BY RAMENDA
CYRUS

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Renewed Iran Nuclear Deal on Life Support

America and Iran should get the deal done despite obstacles, but the
influence of Israel and Saudi Arabia continues to undermine American
national interest. BY ROBERT HITT

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