Newswise — Marketers and advertisers love and court them.
Yet politicians often ignore youths, worried that courting that demographic will alienate their more-established supporters, said Carl Taylor, a Michigan State University criminologist and urban ecologist.
"Youth culture should be courted, must be courted, because they're the ones who are going to take the baton of responsibility in our society," said Taylor, a professor in MSU's Institute for Children, Youth and Families.
"A lot of times, politicians only concentrate on the people who are voting now. They should concentrate on people who can vote. They don't realize how much influence young people have in their communities."
Tool of choice: Technology. Youths, much like the rest of the nation, are not getting their information through reading.
And the message needs to address young people specifically.
"Politicians address young people as though they don't exist at all," he said. "Young people are not taken very seriously in that regard.
"The flip side is they're taken very seriously as consumers. Look at automobiles, fashion. They're taken very seriously."
For additional MSU expertise on political issues and the election, visit the Web at http://special.newsroom.msu.edu
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