Party Crashing: How the Facebook Generation Does Politics

As John McCain begins to strategize how he might wrangle some of the youth vote from Barack Obama, and Obama -- for his part -- tries to hold on to his solid base of Americans under 30, we thought it would be interesting to talk with author and frequent television commentator Keli Goff.

Goff, just 28 years old herself, has written a book called Party Crashing that lays out just how competitive these candidates are going to have be if they want to win over the youth -- black youth in particular. Gone are the days, she argues, when Civil Rights-era leaders were card-carrying Democrats, come hell or high water; instead, the hip hop generation is more likely to be suspicious of all party politics and spin, choosing their favorite leader based on individual characteristics, not party affiliation.

Goff writes, "Not only has the post-civil rights generation grown up in an America in which segregation is a distant memory, but I have grown up in an America in which black people and black culture are the defining arbiters of America's cultural landscape." It seems clear that young black Americans feel their own power and refuse to be neglected by a Democratic party that, at times, has taken their loyalties for granted. And in the face of that, the GOP just might have something to gain from all these independently minded sons and daughters.

Courtney E. Martin: In Party Crashing you argue that the hip hop generation is less likely to affiliate with a party than their parents'. How do you see that affecting their perceptions of McCain and Obama?

Keli Goff: Yes, as you mentioned, my research found that 35 percent of young black voters ages 18-24 are registered Independents. I think that the burgeoning independent streak among young black voters is one of the untold stories of Barack Obama's success this election. It's been a bit easy for some to jump to the conclusion that "Barack Obama is a black candidate, so of course young, black voters are supporting him." Or "Barack Obama is a Democrat, so of course young, blacks would support him. They're Democrats," but the truth is much more complex than that.

During interviews for my book, I found that the reasons that young black voters found Obama's candidacy appealing were for many of the same reasons some young white voters do, namely a perception that he puts policy ahead of partisanship. This perception of not just politics as usual came up with voters across the board -- including self-described conservatives and liberals. McCain didn't come up as much, but my instinct is that, were he not running against Barack Obama (who for a variety of reasons, including the aforementioned, is extremely popular among younger black voters), John McCain might also benefit among this demographic for his longstanding image as a "maverick" who is willing to work across the party aisle. Although it's likely that, with every passing day of this primary, that image will increasingly become a distant memory.

What do you think some young people find so abhorrent about the party system?

I don't know that younger voters necessarily find the party system "abhorrent," per se, but I do think that there is a weariness of partisan rhetoric. Many voters under the age of 30 grew up in an incredibly divisive partisan atmosphere that included moments like the impeachment, etc., but the reasons for independence among the voters I interviewed really varied. Some simply consider themselves independent thinkers and, therefore, see no reason to hitch their wagon to a particular form of group thought, such as a specific political party. Others simply said that they have a variety of perspectives on different issues; therefore, no individual political party could adequately represent them on every single issue. Others -- and this was perhaps the most common refrain -- simply said they believe in voting for a specific person, NOT a specific party. Perhaps one of the most interesting anecdotes on this is that I interviewed Erika Harold, the 2003 Miss America famous for her conservative stances on issues such as abstinence-only education. Though she is adamantly pro-life, she confessed that she voted for Barack Obama over pro-life activist Alan Keyes for the Senate -- the same year she actually appeared at the Republican National Convention. Her reasoning was that there are many issues that matter, such as education and national security, and you have to be willing to vote for the most qualified candidate, regardless of labels, accordingly.