Gen Y Votes Obama 'Most Likely to Succeed'

It may seem as though social media has little to do with politics, but this year’s Presidential candidates have numerous opportunities for connecting with Gen Y. There are many avenues through which to reach an audience who gets the large majority of their news and information online. Barack Obama and John McCain seem to have differing strategies on this topic, but we may soon know if these communication tools have proven effective in their campaigns.

Obama’s campaign is clearly attempting to appeal to younger voters not only through atypical, fresh visual designs, but also through their leverage of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. McCain may be present in these venues as well, but the numbers show that Obama has definitely found his marketing niche. And the online social media arena isn’t the only place to get the word out to Gen Y. Obama’s website allows for supporters to sign up to receive text message updates, which was the first way many heard of his VP decision.

figures accurate as of 9/23/2008

While these numbers may reflect typical demographics on either side of the party line, there is still a viable argument about the influence these social media platforms may have on young voters. Regardless of partisanship, if I were to see that 75% of my Facebook friends were fans of either of the candidates and I hadn’t considered the election and wasn’t concerned about voting, a certain amount of peer pressure would build up. Then the question looms: If 75% of my friends are interested and involved, what’s my excuse for not being involved? This may be the case for many young voters. Generation Y is the largest generation since the Baby Boomers and could be very influential in any election, especially in swing states. How many “peer pressure” votes would it have taken to swing one or two states to the opposite side in the last two elections? Not many.

The mere action of getting Gen Y to vote, period, should be the goal. This has been an incredibly close election so far. Could his leverage of social media possibly aid Obama to a win? We shall see.