Statement by Generation Opportunity President Paul T. Conway on Last Night’s Election Results
Washington, DC – 11/7/12 – Generation Opportunity President Paul T. Conway, former Chief of Staff of the United States Department of Labor under Secretary Elaine L. Chao, has issued the following statement:
“Young Americans surprised many pundits last night and confirmed what Generation Opportunity has seen first-hand on both social media and at the grassroots level – this generation remains fully engaged in national issues and is extremely concerned about how the poor economy and lack of full-time jobs continue to devastate their everyday lives, careers, and future dreams.
“Notably, last night, President Obama saw the highest defection rate from his margin of support in 2008 of any age group among young Americans 18-29, who decreased their support of him by a margin of at least 6 percentage points.
“Underneath these numbers, young Americans are truly reshaping how they think about issues like taxes and regulation, largely due to high unemployment; hence we believe you will see an increase in this shift among young Americans in 2014, 2016, and moving forward. The fact that young Americans will represent 38% of the electorate by 2020 makes this all the more relevant.
“In the days ahead, it will be important for President Obama and his team to remember that young Americans want meaningful, full-time jobs in their career paths of choice and are increasingly looking for less government involvement in their daily lives. They have given the President another opportunity to fulfill his promises, to match his actions to his rhetoric, and to demonstrate an ability to achieve results in these areas. Over the next four years, young Americans will watch carefully to see if the President honors his commitments, and, if he fails to do so, they will work with organizations like Generation Opportunity to hold him and his allies in Congress accountable.
“For future campaigns, the results of last night’s election further demonstrate, yet again, that to succeed in garnering the support of young Americans, they must engage them fully in social media and must embrace the technologies that young Americans utilize to inform their opinions.
More importantly, campaigns need to demonstrate that they respect the intelligence and influence of young Americans and provide them the content necessary for individuals to reach their own conclusions.”
ABOUT GENERATION OPPORTUNITY
Generation Opportunity is actively organizing young adults across America through grassroots tactics, voter registration, and voter turnout efforts, engaging over a quarter million young adults. The organization’s social media platforms have amassed a total fan base of more than 4 million. Facebook pages post links to relevant articles and reports from sources ranging from the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO), to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Brookings Institution, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and The Heritage Foundation.
Read about Generation Opportunity here; visit “Being American by GO” on Facebook here, “The Constitution by GO” on Facebook here, “Gas Prices Are Too Damn High” on Facebook here, “Lower Taxes by GO” on Facebook here, “Keep Texas Awesome” on Facebook here, “Jersey Proud” on Facebook here, and “We Like Small Government” on Facebook here.
For our Spanish-language page – Generación Oportunidad – click here.
Follow us on Twitter @GenOpportunity.
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CONTACT:
Matthew Faraci – 202-997-1636 | EMAIL
David Pasch – 202-230-7947 | EMAIL
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