How do we make sure young people get out the vote?

Four themes that stand out from our work in Orange County.

In preparation to get out the vote with Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Orange County next year, Asian American Futures, VietRISE, and AAPI Victory Fund met to landscape common narratives, stories, and messages young people were exposed to around voting. 

Four themes stood out: 

✅ Generic appeals to “just vote.” Whether they came from Michelle Obama, Olivia Rodrigo, or a meme, they assume we know why voting matters. 

❗Fearmongering / Mocking. Many examples threatened people with another Trump presidency, or pushed the stereotype that GenZers are politically disengaged. 

🍺 High-stakes, single issues. Our favorite headline said, “Democratic efforts to lure young voters include beer and birth control.” 

😱 A powerful sense of despair. Memes, tweets, and instagram posts reminded us how many people feel no change from elections, or that our presidential candidates may not be that different. Whether or not it’s true, the feeling is powerful.  

It’s clear that countering the sense of despair will be key. How will the pro-voting tactics we noticed stand up to that? We have some hypotheses, and we’re eager to conduct message testing to find out. Stay tuned for what we learn! If you are working on this, I would love to see what you’re creating, learning and noticing.

Sources
News article: https://lnkd.in/gU9xUG9d
Dear Young People, Don't Vote: https://lnkd.in/g5qUGjPd