Political Consultants, Hail to the “V”

Juan Williams, one of the speakers at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce 75^th Annual Business Summit, talked about the 2010 Census statistics and how this related to the future of political campaigns.

(No, I didn’t get to actually hear the speech because I was getting a facial and taking a personal day to relax, but my boyfriend’s company is one of the event’s sponsors, so he relayed this to me over lunch. And don’t judge, everyone needs a break once and while.)

According to the 2010 Census data, females outnumber males in the United States 50.8% to 49.2%. There was a sex ratio of less than 100, further confirming the point that there are more females than males in our nation. (And why isn’t a female President yet?)

Williams said that females between ages 18-30 is the largest emerging age demographic, and that will only continue to grow. So what does this mean for political campaigns?

We’ll see more campaign ads targeted toward this female age group. Political consultants will need to craft messages that appeal to and will energize this diverse group of fearsome femme fatales.

Of course, we’ve already seen female-targeted political ads. Here’s an example from the October 2010 race in Maryland. Former Presidential Candidate John Kerry also targeted women.

But the women between 18-30 years of age today are a Choo of a different color than a couple years ago, especially when it comes to race. For example, there are more Hispanic females today in our nation than two years ago.

I must admit, I look forward to watching “the good old boys” try to craft messages to appeal to this group. And hopefully we’ll get more young, vivacious females involved in the political arena.

In other words, hail to the V!