Black Student Political Power in '06 and Beyond

Black Collegian, Feb 2007 by Chollette, Shawn

Whether they are referenced as members of Generation Next, the Hip Hop Generation, or progenies of Pop Culture, the indictment leveled at many young Americans is generally the same: they don't take voting or politics seriously.

In recent years prominent figures such as Jesse Jackson and Bill Cosby have lamented the state of political involvement and activism among young Americans - particularly African Americans. Yet, despite these criticisms, steadily rising voter turnout suggests an upswing in political activity throughout the young Black voting bloc. Preliminary exit polls indicate that a recent upward trend in turnout by youth voters (19-29), African Americans, and young Black voters alike most likely continued in the 2006 midterms.

The increases have been more incremental than dramatic. Exit poll analyses by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) estimated that the number of youth voters increased for the second midterm election in a row last year, rising from 22 percent in 2002 to 24 percent in 2006. And while hard figures from 2006 remain unknown at this time, researchers expect young African Americans will continue to lead the trend they set in 2004, when turnout jumped 11 percentage points - the greatest increase of any racial or ethnic minority group during the recent election cycles.

Partly buoyed by national Get-Outthe-Vote campaigns, these gains are also the direct result of grassroots efforts at the local level such as the "Sleep Out for the Vote Extravaganza" sponsored by Florida A&M University. The event, which involved Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College, attracted more than 200 area students, some of whom spent the night at Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center and participated in early voting the next morning. While the exact number of Black student voters is not yet known, data from the board of elections show that Leon County turnout jumped to more than 63 percent - the highest in state.

In Texas, Prairie View A&M students marched in the rain to promote voting. Some even cast early ballots after the October rally, according to The Panther newspaper.

Meanwhile, College Republicans at Southern University in Baton Rouge organized a nonpartisan "poll watch" in November. Anthony Monroe, a senior marketing major and chapter president, said the event was aimed at increasing voter awareness, as well as informing students about issues that may directly impact them.

"Although our campus is mainly liberal, I don't think it really matters what party you're a part of as long as you know ... why you vote for what you vote for," Monroe said. "We don't want you to be a Republican. We want you to have your own thought process and vote for the party that shares your views and interests."

Issues-oriented organizations such as the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) also contributed to the 2006 increase through student outreach. Working with a network of partners including Black Youth Vote! and local Student PIRGs, the organization enlisted more than 1,000 student volunteers to register more than 75,000 student voters at some 80 colleges coast-to-coast. A project of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Black Youth Vote! registered 21,000 new voters in seven targeted states. It deployed student volunteers for "dorm storms" and events such as a celebrity basketball tournament in Georgia, where high Black turnout was critical to helping struggling Democratic Representatives squeak by in their districts.

Black Youth Voters Make Gains

While these scenes may be more the exception than the rule, they represent a trend in which African-American youth voting remains strong and growing. Mark Hugo Lopez, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and research director for CIRCLE, said the recent turnouts reversed a downward spiral that dates back to the 1970s, and young African Americans are setting the curve.

"You really see this trend in a lot of urban settings - especially Chicago where young African Americans are outvoting their counterparts," Lopez said.

While the turnout percentages have been rising, other important trends have been noted as well. As important as turnout numbers is where and how Black youth voted. While multiple analyses show that youth voters, men and women, identified more strongly with Democrats in 2006, the margin was greatest among African Americans. In a November 2-7 phone survey of 500 youth voters by Lake Research Partners, 74 % of African Americans reported they would or did vote for a Democratic congressional candidate while 16 percent leaned Republican; by contrast, the margins were 69%/28% for Latinos and 44%/39% for whites.

As a result, Black voters were clearly key to November's Democratic sweep, according to a report for the AfricanAmerican think-tank, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. In the report "Blacks and the 2006 Midterm Elections," Senior Research Associate David A. Bositis noted that the Black vote was strategically "pivotal" in electing a Democratic governor (Ohio), and re-electing three Democratic governors (Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) and two Democratic U.S. Senators (Florida and Michigan). However, the big story of 2006 was African Americans' role in tipping the Senate balance by heavily favoring new Democratic Senators in Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In just the most dramatic example, Virginia's Black voters (16% of the electorate) overwhelmingly backed Democrat Jim Vebb (84-15%), contributing 27% of the ballots that drove his razor-thin victory (49.6-49.2%) over incumbent Senator George Allen. The contest ultimately proved the decisive seat for the majority.