Fully half of NC’s registered voters are 45 and younger. And 47% of voters 45 and younger are registered UNAffiliated. Furthermore, the current NC voter registration is: UNAffiliated 38%, Democrat 31%, and Republican 30%. I suggested that Democrats need to turn out more young UNAffiliated voters. (Duh!) We can’t win without them and that’s where we have the most potential for boosting turnout.

But younger voters are irregular voters, the consultant answered, displaying that instinctive caution. We need to focus on turning out older, more reliable Democratic voters. I thought, So we are supposed to ignore 28-yr-olds until they are 45? Genius!

The attention economy works both ways. Democrats need to capture more attention, yes. But they also need to pay more attention to younger voters who feel undervalued and cut out of the political process.

A retired marketing professional told me last week that no retailer would ignore such a large swath of its potential customer base. They custom-tailor their pitches to different market segments. Showing up on podcasts is one way for Democrats to get attention. But paying attention to a large segment of disaffected voters who don’t vote is another way to increase “sales.” Who doesn’t want to do that?