Are the President’s Promises Enough to Capture the Attention of the Rising American Electorate?
January 25th, 2012
Pollsters conducting dial groups during the State of the Union address report that the President scored with his promises to push middle class priorities and values. His plans to help the long term unemployed, to keep student loan rates low and to turn community colleges into“community career centers” all drew positive reviews and past polling tells us should resonate with the Rising American Electorate (RAE).
Right now,many Americans who make up the RAE – unmarried women, people of color and young people 18- 30 –and who constitute the majority of eligible voters in our country are not registered or planning to vote this November. But the President may have started a conversation that could catch their attention and lead to their increased participation in November.
The recession has hit the RAE hard: 46 percent of the RAE say they or someone in their family has faced reduced wages, hours or benefits at work. Women, particularly single mothers, have been particularly hard hit by the recession – they have been more likely to go hungry, miss a mortgage payment, or forgo a doctor’s visit because of costs.
VPC research shows job and skills training and lower tuition costs are very popular with the RAE and unmarried women particularly. So when President Obama made an example of Jackie Bray — a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic, got skills training and a job as a result of a partnership between Siemens and Central Piedmont Community College, odds are he connected with unmarried women across America. The challenge now is to keep the narrative focused on what happens to and helps the RAE directly.