A recent survey by The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) — a research institute simultaneously competing for a grand prize in the Longest Name and Cleverest Acronym categories at the Non-Profit Games — questioned political party leaders about the most valuable group of voters “for the long-term success of their party.”

By far the most important group for “long-term success,” the polls answered, was the elderly. My age cohort, the “young people,” came in dead last.

Does this seem backwards to anyone else? It certainly does to me. Last time I checked, the group that inherits “long-term” anything — whether it be success or failure, affluence or poverty — is mine.

Blake Seitz

And yet political parties don’t target us with anything close to the intensity with which they target Grandma and Grandpa. They do this for good reason.

Voter turnout among the youngest eligible cohort consistently piddles around in the 20 percent range for midterm elections. It couldn’t even crack 50 percent in the 2008 presidential race, which starred the hippest, most young adult-friendly politician since John “The F Stands for Fresh” Kennedy.

These are ashamedly low rates, and you’d best believe that the elderly do not have the same problem “getting out the vote” — their rates hover a tick under 70 percent for both mid-term and presidential elections.

Political parties have figured this out, and they have adjusted their strategies accordingly.

The easy response to this is to brush it off as inconsequential: politics is to old folks as partying is to young folks, so why not leave it to them to figure it out? At the bottom of this response is the assumption that politics will be a relevant concern only after graduating into the workforce and going into the “real world.” This is mistaken.

These days, unemployment sits at 8.5 percent, and recent graduates sit at home, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for an employer to call back. These days, HOPE dollars look dangerously precarious, and student debt mountainously large.

These days, the local kiddies can’t open lemonade stands without peddler’s permits, business licenses and all other kinds of government imprimatur (seriously).

As if they weren’t already, political issues are fast encroaching on our youthful domain — which brings us back to the grandparents.

It should come as no surprise that our generation views the world differently from, say, Granny Mae and Grandpa Cletus.

At birth, our generation burst forth into a brave new world with Walkman MP3 players in tow. Our grandparents, by comparison, may shuffle off this mortal coil without so much as touching an on-off switch.

This vast divide in upbringing, experience and present life situation translates to different policy priorities: the elderly vote for Social Security and union jobs, and young folks vote for the environment and free trade.

As it stands, though, only one set of priorities is being considered — as the numbers above attest, we haven’t made our priorities worth prioritizing. That needs to change.

On campus, there are innumerable political groups designed to work with students and amplify their message, from usual suspects like College Republicans and Young Democrats to relative newcomers like Young Americans for Liberty. It is imperative that we take advantage of these opportunities.

One such opportunity, to offer a shameless plug, is coming up on Feb. 4, when the Roosevelt Institute will host its Perfect Presidential Platform Conference.

Over the course of the conference, attendees will be able to confer with University professors and students from a number of different universities to create a youth-driven policy platform for the 2012 election.

Register for the Roosevelt Conference if you feel so led, but whatever you do, get involved somewhere.

It’s us, after all, who inherit the long-term.

— Blake Seitz is a sophomore from Dallas, Texas majoring in political science and public administration and policy