Follow the money

A couple of recent news stories have pointed out that young adults are likely to set new records for low attendance at the polls next month. The stories have found several reasons for this phenomenon but may have missed the biggest of them all.

Except for a small increase in participation in 1992, when President Bill Clinton was first elected, turnout of voters ages 18 to 24 has been falling for a generation and in 1996 was 32 percent, less than half that of the most active voting age group, those over 65. An Associated Press story recently attributed this to politicians who were more likely to talk about Social Security and Medicare than issues that interested younger people. Jehmu Greene, a spokeswoman for Rock the Vote, which tries to involve this age group in politics, said, “It’s less about acting hip and trying to come down to the level of young people and more about trying to talk directly to them and having their stances relate to young people.”

That’s no doubt an accurate observation, but here is another one: $17,688; $2,491. The first figure, $17,688, represents what the federal government spends on average for each American age 65 or older. The second figure, $2,491, represents what it spends for Americans 18 or younger. Politicians are more likely to talk about issues that affect older Americans because older Americans, as the biggest recipients of federal social programs, are where the money is.

In politics, attracting constituencies often means buying them off. If the newly minted 18-year-old voters had the amount spent on them quintupled during their teen-age years, you can bet they would be more interested in politics.

Without regard to need, certainly some of the reason that seniors receive disproportionately more than young people is that they vote, and not the other way around, but raised stakes heightens interest in any contest. And given the decreasing effect a president might have on a budget full of automatic entitlement payments, it isn’t surprising that candidates turn to the best-loved programs and talk about how they will defend them.

It is overly cynical to suggest that the only way to get young voters more involved in the process is to bribe them into being interested. On the other hand, it’s worked pretty well for seniors.