Mobilize.org

Compile Facts & Synthesize Your Argument

Once you have educated yourself on the issue and are familiar with the pertinent facts, you can begin to synthesize an argument. An argument consists of facts coupled with rhetoric. When formulating an argument, it is best to group all of the important facts and statistics together; then incorporate them into major talking points. This makes your argument easy to follow and understand while providing some of the numbers necessary to make your argument viable. Also, clear and concise arguments are the easiest to grasp. When recruiting members it is best to have an argument that others can remember and articulate. A persuasive argument is essential to convincing others that there is a need for change.

Synthesize an Argument into Talking Points

There are major misconceptions about the power, presence, and importance of young people in the political process. Here are sample talking points when addressing this issue:

• Young people vote in large numbers – 21 million voted in 2004.

• In nearly every Presidential election since 1976, over 20 million young people aged 18-30 turned out to vote on Election Day.10
• As of November of 2000, almost a quarter of the voting age population was aged 18-30, and 64% of this population was registered to vote. In that same year, 1 out of every 6 votes was from an 18-30-year-old!
• At least 20.9 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in 2004, an increase of 4.6 million from 2000. The turnout rate among these voters rose from about 42.3% to 51.6%, according to final national exit polls and an early tally of votes cast. Youth voter turnout was especially high in the contested battleground states.
• American youth are evenly split between party affiliations strong partisan ties.
• According to the Harvard Institute of Politics 41% of young people are unaffiliated voters, meaning they may vote for either party.
• In 2000, voters under 30 were evenly split between Bush and Gore, with 48% stating they voted for Gore and 46% professing they voted for Bush.
• Young people are concerned with specific issues and find motivation to become politically active on the basis of those issues.
• 20% of recently polled young Americans vote on the basis of concern with jobs and the economy and 14% are concerned with the war in Iraq or terrorism.
• Youth also rated issues such as access to higher education, and access to affordable health care at the top of their list when deciding how to vote.
• Directly engaging young people increases the likelihood that they will become politically active.
• Recent studies by professors at Yale University suggest that large-scale peer-to-peer efforts to contact young people can make a 5 to 8 percentage point difference in their turnout rates.
• According to another survey, asking a young person to vote raises the likelihood that they will vote by 8 to 12 percentage points.
• 60% of surveyed young people said they would pay attention to campaigns that utilize online chat rooms, 54% professed interest in issue-oriented emails and 50% were interested in issue-oriented weblogs.

We’ve included statistics that are organized to supplement the main points of our argument. The argument is clear, concise and directly derived from research about youth civic engagement. The same can be done with your issue. Start by finding the pertinent statistics and weave them together to support your argument.

Next: Storytelling + Counterarguments