Heather Smith, Rock the Vote on MSNBC Live: 10/16/08

Heather Smith, Rock the Vote
MSNBC Live
10/16/08

TRANSCRIPT:
TAMRYN HALL: Young voters will undoubtedly help determine the next President. In fact, Rock the Vote is a national organization thats actually crisscrossing the country to get that key group of people out and engaged. And theyve launched a new ad featuring Adrian Grenier from the hit show, Entourage.

[Clip shown]

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HALL: Lets talk about the youth vote, we know that, at least some of the polling showing in large numbers, they are supporting Barack Obamas campaign. [] Why do we see the polling going in his direction?

HEATHER SMITH: Theres millions of young people right now eligible to vote, were in fact one in five voters who could cast a ballot this election day, and right now these young people are more engaged, theyve registered at higher numbers, theyre poised to turn out, and I think a lot has to do with the issues. The economy has been top of mind since 2005 actually, well before it was for older voters.

HALL: [] Why is that the case you think? Before older voters.

SMITH: Its interesting, the young people today, voters under 30, theyve really taken the brunt of a lot of these issues. When we ask them, why economy, what does that mean? It really digs into these pocketbook issues. Like not being able to afford college, jobs not providing healthcare, entry level jobs right now. And so they are most under-insured aged group for healthcare and then jobs with high enough wages to really take care of their friends and family.

HALL: [] What confidence do you have that they will show up in these large numbers?

SMITH: They will vote, I can promise you that. What we have found is that once registered, young people turned out at record levels. So, in 2004 for example, 82 percent of registered young people voted. We have so many new people registered, were confident that theyll go to the polls. Just to make sure that they do, rather than relying on this data from 04, we are launching campaigns, whether its the ad campaign with Adrian Grenier which you just saw, as well as information from our bus thats crossing the tour, and dozens of organizations contacting these young people in person, making sure that they go to the polls on November 4th.

Category:

News & Politics

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