Obama Campaign Alumni Train the Next Generation of Leaders

In 2011, Carolyn Mehta earned a master of public affairs (MPA) from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. After managing community outreach efforts in Williamsburg, Virginia on President Obama's 2012 campaign for re-election, Carolyn Mehta joined the Obama Alumni Association. The organization, created for those who worked on the successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns as well as previous political campaigns for Barack Obama, offers training resources free of charge to campaign alumni who wish to carry President Obama's vision forward.

Established in 2009, the Obama Alumni Association also provides a space for former Obama campaign staffers to network and stay connected. The group encourages alumni to remain politically engaged and to continue advocating for progressive causes. Through training materials the Obama Alumni Association inherited from Obama's successful campaigns, members have access to a wealth of resources they can use to develop the next generation of leaders.

A Look at Universal Basic Income

Carolyn Mehta served as a field organizer with President Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 and as the voter engagement director with S.O.U.L. Chicago. A lifelong advocate for economic and social justice, Carolyn Mehta recently managed a universal basic income (UBI) pilot project in Chicago.

UBI is a guaranteed, unconditional regular payment by the government to every person in the country, sufficient to meet basic living expenses. Discussed for at least 500 years since Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, it’s receiving serious attention again because of the potential for robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to eliminate more jobs than they create, leaving large swaths of the population unemployed.

There are several advantages to UBI, and several disadvantages as well. If the payment were robust enough to justify the elimination of welfare and unemployment programs, it would save governments billions in the administration of those programs. Workers would have greater flexibility to seek out the best job opportunities, go back to school, or take time off work to care for a family member. UBI would also help stabilize the economy during economic downturns.

The most obvious disadvantage is the cost of any UBI program, which is estimated to run into the trillions of dollars annually, even with projected savings in other assistance programs. Some also suggest that UBI could be inflationary by spurring spending, and thus demand.

Some leaders in the American economic landscape, such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk, believe that UBI is inevitable. If they’re right, it will likely be implemented only after a major overhaul of the welfare system. 

Youth Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections

Carolyn Mehta, an experienced community outreach professional, holds a master of public affairs from Indiana University. Over the course of her career, Carolyn Mehta has supported a variety of causes, including initiatives geared toward amplifying youth voice in politics and policy.

In U.S. politics, "youth vote" describes the percentage of eligible voters between the ages 18 and 24 who participate in an election. Historically, the youth vote has lagged behind overall voter turnout, often to a significant degree. Turnout among young voters has remained relatively stagnant over the last five decades.

In the 1964 presidential election, which saw Democratic incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson defeat Republican Barry Goldwater in a landslide victory, the youth vote turnout registered 50.9 percent. By comparison, 66.3 percent of voters aged 25 to 44 voted in the same election, while more than three in four individuals between ages 45 and 64 voted. Despite this discrepancy, the 1964 election remains the largest youth voter turnout in the past 60 years.

The 1996 and 2000 elections, won by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively, marked all-time lows for youth voter turnout, with both contests drawing just 30 percent of young voters. Recent elections suggested that turnout among young voters was increasing, with a peak of 44.3 percent in 2008. However, this can be attributed to an above average turnout in elections featuring President Barack Obama, as young voters turned out at a rate of just 39 percent in 2016.

A number of theories have been proposed to explain low turnout among young voters. Explanations range from a lack of faith in the importance of civic participation to presidential candidates failing to address topics that impact young voters.