How Blind The 2020 Politics Have Gotten
The fact that EXPERIENCE works with politicians is not a secret.
Right on the home page of our website, we tell the world we do.
A good share of individuals who learn we do make a quick assumption that we work exclusively for one political affiliation. Clients and business groups that actually interact with EXPERIENCE learn quickly that we operate affiliation neutral.
I try to keep my own personal political affiliations outside the flow of the company just as much as my brand loyalty to a number of consumer packaged goods and retail brands.
As many of you know, since March, I get up each morning and write a news column about COVID-19 and its status in the U.S. I share Active case and Recovered case counts by state. The numbers are derived from four consistent sources as well as additional tracking sources that report specialty reports.
In my morning releases, I interact more with news outlets than I did pre-COVID outbreak. First hand, I get a chance to hear news editors voice perspectives of the election and the candidates running.
This year — 2020 — has been an odd election year indeed. As we flow into October, I encounter more campaign communications, candidate interaction and audience perspectives.
Running in close time flow with COVID-19, almost daily there are protesters voicing a perspective in some U.S. city.
And while I attempt to stay neutral, I am the first to observe that political parties have used the protests as extensions of the platforms they believe are the ones most important to voters.
A couple of candidates running in a number of neighboring States have contacted me to secure a perspective. A couple of groups have asked me to come in and speak.
Neither DNC nor GOP leadership have a clear understanding of what is happening right before their eyes.
Zoomers are addicted to texting friends on their smart phones for self-confirmation purposes.
Political leadership is not too unlike the adolescent as they have become addicted to interacting only with groups who will provide them with self-confirmation of their perspectives and strategic issues.
Yesterday, I completed a roundtable discussion at an area coffee house with a group of a half dozen real estate agents. And yes… that roundtable was in person and not on Zoom.
The discussion was about the crazy summer and just how hot the real estate market has become. Nearly every story shared in the chat group was anchored around Millennials purchasing a home. About every other one featured Millennials moving out of an intown neighborhood to find something affordable.
What they shared is not something that is only happening here in Atlanta. It is something that is happening all over the U.S.
And furthermore, the Millennials driving the house & home market are not just a sliver of the marketplace nor is this a short-lived trend driven by the COVID outbreaks.
No… what is happening is a major societal shift. One that the political parties and the media commentary have yet to acknowledge, embrace and strategically address.
When political candidates fan the flame of health and healthcare insurance issues, ethnicity and discrimination issues, military and defense issues and global energy and environmental issues… I wonder if they have recently sat down with those folks in their 30s and early 40s and had any roundtable chats.
Some camps wonder if either presidential candidate can clearly think or if the aging process has impacted their perceptions of what is happening around them.
I have to ask if the political leadership should take the same tests to see if the aging process has impacted their leadership perspectives!
Take issues off the table for a minute.
Camps in both parties assume that a much larger portion of Millennials will vote blue vs. red.
Shoot… these are the same folks that lived in the intown, urban neighborhoods where diversity, human rights, environmental green was the mantra you spoke to sit down in the local pub.
These are the folks that shop at Whole Foods, order off Amazon, drive an electric Subaru that sports a rainbow sticker on the back bumper and volunteer time to feed the homeless.
The DNC assumes that they have the Millennials in their grips and the GOP assumes it has no chance to reel any over.
After all, the mayors and commissioners are all DNC in those Top 20 U.S. metros and there is an assumption that the intown Millennials elected them.
Three very important facts…
(1) The vast majority of Millennials are not active voters
(2) The vast majority of Millennials have been renters… until now
(3) The vast majority of Millennials are me-anchored… especially as they couple and make babies
And here are some surprising BGOs about Millennials — Blinding Glimpses of the Obvious — that should be taking center stage…
1. They are re-molding brands of the past to better fit with their needs of today
2. They value inclusion… they value putting their personal stamp on areas of inclusion
3. They are moving out to the ‘burbs and small towns
4. Home cocooning includes both the kids and the structure of the house itself
5. The ratings of local schools and education means more than likes on Facebook
6. They want real estate taxes they now pay to actually translate to personal returns
7. While global issues are nice, their perspective is focused around local roots
8. They are less wedded to employers as they are to their personal careers
9. Healthcare issues mean little to Millennials… even COVID is not as critical an issue as it is to Boomers and older Mature Generation folks
10. Millennials seek replacement for the helicopter parents of the past… but the model sought is not that of the sheltering Generation X parents of today
The Millennials are ripe for the taking for politicians that embrace them, but embracing them involves more than a social media post.
And when candidates brand themselves with platforms that Millennials could care less about it not only fails to stimulate engagement, it hands the largest voter block in the U.S. over to the competition.
