Major parties losing black youth vote

In 2003 12 percent of black males in their 20s and early 30s were behind bars, according to National Public Radio, In addition, 11.8 percent of blacks were unemployed and 53 percent of black children lived in single parent households, according to the Associated Press.

Yet, only 42 percent of eligible, black 18-to-24-year-olds voted in the 2000 Presidential election. The majority of those who voted were college students.

Why?

In 2004, David Damron of the Orlando Sentinel said black “students are notoriously apathetic, turning out in low numbers on Election Day.”

Manley Elliot Banks Jr. a political science professor at VCU questions whether it is apathy that turns black people away or a lack of recognition for their concerns in the realm of politics.

“What happens a lot of times is that Democratic candidates take for granted that blacks will support the party,” said Banks. “If they are seen as too sympathetic to the needs and concerns of blacks it will make them less appealing – especially in the South.”

Banks said the factors influencing young black voter behavior include the considerable amount of young blacks who are not registered, incarcerated – thereby losing their right to vote in many states – or impoverished.

Among black college students, Banks said the lack of stability in relation to jobs, family and career may hinder their grasp of the importance of voting.

“They don’t see how closely it affects our lives,” said Marcia Massenberg, 21, a black mass communications major with a concentration in public relations. “It is important to research the candidates and what they stand for to become more knowledgeable on how government works and what voting does.”

In an article by Rosalind Jordan, an MSNBC news correspondent, voters between the ages of 18 and 35 are concerned with “the lack of job creation, the vanishing opportunities to make it in the middle class and the continuing expense of the war in Iraq.”

“All I care about right now is our troops,” said Joy Newsome, 18, a black theater major.

Although black voting has steadily declined since the end of the Civil Rights era, MSNBC analysts said black voter turnout could affect the 2004 candidates’ chance of winning.

According to a 2002 Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies survey among blacks 18 to 34 years old, 54 percent pledge themselves to the Democratic Party and 9 percent align themselves with the Republican Party.

Now more than ever, young black voters are distancing themselves from the traditional parties and establishing themselves as independents. Between 30 and 35 percent described themselves as independent in the recent polls conducted by the center.

More than half of black people older than 34 — 63 percent — remain loyal to the Democratic Party.

Banks said young black voters feel their issues have been neglected and Democrats, who have traditionally been the party of black people, are not focusing on bringing them to the foreground. This is because many young black people don’t see any positive influence the party has had on the community, Banks said.

“They don’t see any clear benefits that the Democratic Party has provided to the black community.”