Health Care Is One Thing, but What About That Lyrics Crusade?

ANN ARBOR, Mich. —  They describe this leafy college town as “six square miles surrounded by reality,” so it would seem characteristic of Ann Arbor that its young residents see one presidential campaign while the candidates wage another.

In the campaign that students of the University of Michigan care about, the top issues include abortion, affirmative action, capital punishment, education, gun control--even the freedom to buy foulmouthed music.

But Social Security, a cornerstone issue of presidential rivals Al Gore and George W. Bush, is for these students’ grandparents. And health care? Well, as one 21-year-old townie put it: “I’m healthy.”

“An 18- to 24-year-old takes great pride in that they’re 18 to 24, and they don’t have to deal with 65-plus issues,” said Mike Spahn, the editor of the Michigan Daily.

Gore to Take Part in On-Campus Forum

When Democrat Gore visits Ann Arbor today for an on-campus forum televised by MTV, there is a good chance he will be asked about the crusade that he and his wife, Tipper, led against explicit songs in the ‘80s. “What do you have against Metallica?” is not a pressing question when the vice president visits senior centers and elementary schools.

Michigan senior Jon Cassady is among those tracing his feelings about Gore back to the anti-smut crusade. “I’ve never been a big fan of Gore,” he said. Cassady, 21, doesn’t support everything the entertainment industry produces but worries about censorship. “It’s one of my biggest fears of anything.”

Lauren Male also has a fear: that “old-boy” Republican Bush is too conservative for today’s America. The onetime Chi Omega rush chairwoman from Miami admits she does not know much about the Texas governor’s or Gore’s policies, but she does know Bush opposes unrestricted abortion rights. “I don’t think that’s appropriate for the times.”

When Male and Cassady vote--she for Gore, he for Bush--they will be going against the odds for those their age. About half of all voters went to the polls in the 1996 presidential election, but the 18-24 age group had just a 32% turnout. This November, according to a survey released Monday by MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation, fewer than half of eligible voters under 25 are certain they will vote, versus 64% of all adults.

Still, by some measures, so-called Generation Y is no more apathetic than the rest of America. Overall, studies have shown, they volunteer in their communities in unprecedented numbers. The MTV-Kaiser poll found that they are more concerned than older voters about crime-related issues and civil rights.

“It’s not that they’re disengaged with the issues,” Kaiser foundation Vice President Vicky Rideout said. “They have strong opinions on issues that are being debated in this campaign. But they don’t see a link between them casting a vote and anything happening on those issues.”

The candidates know that this election won’t hinge on the historically minimal college-age vote, so they focus on more reliable voter blocs. When Bush and Gore propose ways to make college more affordable, for example, their pitch is aimed toward parents saving for the future.

“When I watched the convention, I felt moved because in a few years I will have a family,” said 25-year-old Susan McLeary, who says she’ll leave the country if Gore loses. “But I think someone who’s 21 and partying a lot and not thinking about their future might feel a little alienated.”

The campaign’s issue gap was most evident on Labor Day, said John Dervin, political director of Youth Vote 2000, a nonpartisan coalition that promotes civic participation. Then, at the fall campaign’s kickoff, Bush talked about K-12 education and Gore focused on prescription drug care for children and the elderly.

“Here we are at the start of the political campaign season and where were [the issues of] 18- to 30-year-olds?” wondered Dervin, himself 26. “Nowhere to be found.”

Dervin’s group and other proponents of youth participation in politics say candidates are squandering an opportunity.

“The way to get young people involved? It’s not rocket science at all,” Dervin said. “You just have to go to where young people are and answer their questions.”

Gore will do that today when he visits Ann Arbor. His appearance on campus--and on MTV--is the most direct overture Gore himself has made to college-age students. His daughters Karenna and Kristin have so far been his ambassadors to Generations X and Y. Bush relied on his nephew, George P. Bush, until he left the campaign in August for law school.

Both campaigns have youth coordinators who marshal networks of foot soldiers to paper dorms with campaign fliers, register voters and write commentaries for their campus newspapers.

But such outreach is probably lost on the non-college crowd. Of America’s 26.5 million 18- to 24-year-olds--about 10 million of whom are enrolled in college now--those who have never been on campus are only half as likely to vote as those who have.

For all the “whining” about how candidates don’t connect with college students, “for working people in their 20s, they are invisible,” Michigan political science professor Gregory Markus said.

But among the three dozen students interviewed in this closely contested Midwestern state, there is still enthusiasm about this presidential election. A majority swear they will vote on Nov. 7, and since school opened, the campus’ voter registration drive has already signed up about 5,000 students. “I’m just, like, ‘Yeah, I get to vote!’ ” one first-timer said.

Gore has a definite edge on the historically liberal campus of 36,000. The most recent nationwide polls also put him ahead among young voters. But even in a town where smoking pot only gets you a $25 ticket, Republican Bush has a base too.

Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, who visited Ann Arbor last week, has also found an audience for his anti-establishment campaign. “Get rid of that cell phone,” the consumer advocate tells students. “Stop growing up corporate.”

But with the Bush-Gore race looking tight, most of the Michigan students said they were going to stick with the two major parties. “If I am going to exercise my right to vote,” freshman Emily Haffner said, “I want to make a difference.”

Haffner is what political analysts might call a swing voter in training. “I keep on wavering between Gore and Bush,” she said. Bush is “a little more hip” than the vice president, and Haffner likes his education proposals--her mom teaches first grade in Indiana and her own work-study job is at a preschool. But Haffner doesn’t like Bush’s fealty to the death penalty as governor of Texas. “I think he kills too many people,” she said. (Nevermind that Gore also supports capital punishment.)

Taxes the No. 1 Economic Issue

If there is a pocketbook issue that influences these young voters, it is taxes. Reared in good economic times, they see how withholdings can whittle their summer paychecks, and they hear their parents complaining too.

“Sometimes half of her paycheck goes to taxes,” said Yvonne Humenay of her mother. Head of Michigan’s Students for Bush chapter, Humenay is the lone Republican in her family.

Issues aside, the candidates’ personalities also affect their popularity among younger voters, and forums such as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and MTV help politicians connect.

Joseph I. Lieberman came off as “cute” when Male--the Chi Omega voting for Gore--saw the vice president’s running mate telling jokes on Conan O’Brien’s late-night show. “It made him seem like a regular guy, and that’s an issue too.”

When you live in an insular world where everyone is your age, happily unemployed and enjoying meals cooked by someone else, the world of HMOs and IRAs can seem very far away. So it is understandable that personality might trump policy--or that having a choice of music might be more important than having a choice of doctor.

But the chicken-and-egg problem here is that candidates won’t focus on the interests of youth until, or unless, youth focus on the interests of candidates.

“If we want them to pay attention to our issues,” said John Carter, co-chairman of Michigan’s Students for Bush chapter, “then we have to vote and we have to be making a difference.”