Growing Pains: The Evolution of the New American Electorate

On Friday, November 12, NDN hosted a panel discussion moderated by Alicia Menendez, the Director of NDN's 21st Century America Project, on what the 2010 Midterms Elections can teach us about the evolution of the American electorate. 

This event joined together four electoral experts, Karen Finney, MSNBC Political Analyst and Former DNC Communications Director; Karen Emerson, Lake Research; Jessy Tolkan, Senior Advisor to NOI and CEL; and Andres Ramirez,  NDN Senior Vice President.

The panelists offered insights into various constituencies, including African-American, Latino, unmarried women and Millennial voters.  Among their key takeaways:
•    Youth/Millennial vote numbers remained relatively consistent with the 2006 midterms
•    The Marriage Gap numbers also remained relatively consistent
•    In places where investments were made in organizing and turning out a constituency; they overperformed
•    Methods for mobilizing each constituency are proven -proper  investment is the challenge
•    Democrats are not maximizing their base
•    Republicans are missing an opportuntiy to make in roads
•    Parties need to shift away from cycle-to-cycle planning and begin investing in long term state infrastructure.

Video of the event is here:

Location