The State of the Union: What the Rising American Electorate Needs to Hear Tonight
January 24th, 2012
Right now, many Americans who make up the fastest-growing demographic groups and the majority of eligible voters in our country are not registered or planning to vote this November. The disengagement of the unmarried women, people of color and young people who make up this Rising American Electorate (RAE) is bad news for our democracy. But the President can help increase their interest, involvement and representation by speaking to their needs and concerns in his State of the Union address.
Obvious, right? But in 2010 lawmakers lost the narrative and failed to connect with these groups who showed up in record numbers in 2008, but stayed home in droves during the midterm elections. Instead of talking about what motivated these voters — the things that happen directly in their lives like unemployment extensions, pre-existing conditions, raising the minimum wage, education and job training, candidates talked about deficits, debt ceilings, and stimulus packages – issues that left these voters cold.
Tonight, President Obama has the opportunity to touch these voters where they live. Creating jobs by revitalizing the manufacturing sector will resonate with RAE citizens. Reminding Americans of our shared values of fairness and equal opportunity –and responsibility – will resound with them too. But what will really prick up their ears will be a call to increase job and skills training opportunities–especially for the long term unemployed.
The RAE has been hit disproportionately hard by the recession, and is having a slower recovery: The unemployment rate for single women climbed between June 2009 and December 2011 from 11.7 % to 12.9%; it went down for men, dropping from 9.9% to 8.0. The December unemployment rate for African Americans was 15.8 and for Latinos, it was 11.0 – well above the national unemployment rate of 8.5%.
As Thomas Byrne Edsall warns in his new book,The Age of Austerity:How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics the Rising American Electorate that surged to the polls in 2008, may never show up again. But that outcome will be a certainty unless elected officials, starting with the President tonight, begin a new conversation with the under-represented, under-registered majority of American voters.