Political Realignment

A reader who served as a poll worker in Tuesday's California recall election e-mailed some of her observations:

... the startling thing for me was to see all the young people who turned out. Many had never voted before. I’m talking cool attractive people, some single some with kids, but modern types, good dressers, some with tattoos and piercings. Anyway… guess what? Almost to a one they were registered as Republicans or NA (not affiliated). No democrats.

That part about people who’re starting out wanting change, a chance, and opportunities was so evident to me yesterday. It was clear that many had not voted before. They were polite and seemed to take the whole thing quite seriously -- far more seriously, it seemed, than the regular voters. Anyway, I mention this because I thought it was cool. As an aging baby boomer it gave me hope.

In this precinct of West Petaluma, the majority of voters are Democrats and I think they’re starting to represent the status quo. Young people, I would guess, are starting to see the Democratic Party “Ideals” as a lot of extra protections for old people (prop 13) and labor unions (first hired, last fired.)

One can only hope it's representative of a larger trend.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 09, 2003 10:33 AM