Social Workers, Millennials, and the Future of America

September 27 is National Voter Registration Day and September is National Voter Registration Month as declared by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) which collectively promotes expanding access to elections and implementing new and innovative methods of voter registration.

NASS maintains a nonpartisan website www.canivote.org that provides information on finding your polling place, absentee and early voting, and the type of identification needed to vote in a particular state. According to information on its website, 34 states now offer online voter registration and all other states provide online voter registration forms with the exception of North Dakota which is the only state in the nation that does not require registration to vote.

Spurred by the recently launched social work Voter Empowerment Campaign and other endeavors, social workers across the country are using these and other tools to inform and encourage clients to register to vote and to be active in voter registration efforts in their communities. Increasing the number of registered voters is beneficial to communities because registered voters are more likely to participate in civic activities. Once registered, getting more voters to the polls can affect policy outcomes particularly in local elections. By doubling the number of black voters, residents of the city of Ferguson in Missouri elected two black council members last year—tripling their representation on the council that now has three white and three black members.  Although the turnout was low at 30 percent, it was more than double the 12 percent of voters who had voted in the previous election.

CRISP is launching a YVOTE? video project aimed at millennial voters designed to tap into their thinking about the importance of registering and participating in elections. The idea is get social work students to record 30-second videos of themselves or their friends about their beliefs on the efficacy of voting. Will they be voting in the upcoming elections? Will they be sitting them out? Why? These videos will be edited into a 20-minute documentary that will be showcased during Student Advocacy Day March 9, 2017. This information will be useful as millennials will play a dominant role in determining the future of the nation.

An article by Josh Rudolph in the Harvard Kennedy School Review lays out the challenge Republicans will have going forward if they fail to come up with a policy agenda that will attract millennial voters who—combined with the rising proportion of minority voters—will determine the country’s direction this presidential election going forward. Sixty percent of voters under the age of 30 voted for President Obama in 2012. Together millennial and minority voters represented 40 percent of voters and 74 percent of both groups (80% of minorities voted for Obama) voted for the President. Demographic trends project that proportion to grow to 48 percent this year and 56 percent in 2020. According to the States of Change project, this year’s election will be the first with equal numbers of millennials and baby boomers.

The ability of Secretary Hillary Clinton to win the support of millennials could decide the election which has tightened in recent days since Donald Trump began working to heighten his appeal to African Americans including a visit to a black church in Detroit Saturday. While few believe this new pivot will convince many African American voters to abandon Clinton, conventional wisdom says it may soften his image with college-educated white women—a demographic he is faring poorly with in the polls.  A mid-August poll showed Clinton with a huge lead over Trump among millennials—56 to 20 percent. The question is whether enough of them will go to the polls to put her over the top.

Will Bernie Sanders come to the rescue? That is the big question. While he is hitting the campaign trail on behalf Secretary Clinton this week, he could not resist calling for her to sever all ties to the Clinton Foundation on Sunday’s Meet The Press. When Bernie raises issues like the Clinton Foundation he reminds his millennial followers why they dislike Clinton and that will not inspire many to go to the polls and vote for her. That is Bernie being his authentic self and no one can fault him for doing that. However he will have to decide what is more important–holding Clinton’s feet to the fire or eliminating the prospects of a Donald Trump presidency.

The post Social Workers, Millennials, and the Future of America appeared first on Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy.

Written By Charles E. Lewis Jr., Ph.D

Social Workers, Millennials, and the Future of America was originally published @ Charles Lewis – Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy and has been syndicated with permission.