This Time We Mean It: The Youth Vote Matters

Washington Post ^ | April 27th, 2008 | Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray

[The_Republican]

Election after election, when all the obvious story lines are exhausted, the media tend to turn to an oldie but goody: "Will this be the race where young people finally start voting?" Youth vote advocates insist that young people are more dialed in than ever this year, while political hacks who have been in the business for decades roll their eyes at the notion.

Given that, The Fix recognizes the danger in making the following statement: The youth vote will matter in 2008. A look back over last few months shows a massive increase in youth (people ages 18 through 29) voting; the number of young people voting quadrupled in Tennessee and tripled in states such as Iowa, Missouri and Texas, according to a new study by Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

The report goes on to say that the growth in young people's participation in the electoral process is not a "one-time phenomenon" but, rather, represents a "civic reawakening of a new generation."

That conclusion is affirmed by polling conducted by MTV and CBS News -- survey data that provide a detailed and nuanced analysis of the burgeoning 18-to-29 vote.

Some of the results from the polls will surprise no one.

Barack Obama (Ill.) leads Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) 48 percent to 37 in a Democratic primary matchup. In general-election trial heats, both Clinton and Obama best Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). Obama leads McCain 52 percent to 39 percent, while Clinton holds 51 percent to 41 percent.

While none of those hypothetical results turns conventional wisdom on its head (younger voters tend to favor Democrats, and Obama has spent considerable time in the campaign courting young voters), the issues that the MTV-CBS poll unearthed as most important to young voters might flip the script, at least a bit.

[tcostell]

Jonah Goldberg on why the “Youth Vote” is bunk:

http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg200411051028.asp

[bill1952]

The poll also contained heartening news for the mainstream media.

More than 7 in 10 respondents said "a lot" of their information about politics comes from either newspapers or television news;

15 percent said they get most of their information about politics from blogs

12 percent said they get "a lot" of political information from "late night talk and comedy shows."

[John Jorsett]

It’ll start mattering as soon as someone invents a way to vote via X-Box.

[ccmay]

Barack Obama (Ill.) leads Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) 48 percent to 37 in a Democratic primary matchup. In general-election trial heats, both Clinton and Obama best Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). Obama leads McCain 52 percent to 39 percent, while Clinton holds 51 percent to 41 percent. While none of those hypothetical results turns conventional wisdom on its head (younger voters tend to favor Democrats, and Obama has spent considerable time in the campaign courting young voters), the issues that the MTV-CBS poll unearthed as most important to young voters might flip the script, at least a bit.

This is actually pretty good news. If you consider the usual voting pattern of young people, and the constant left-wing indoctrination and Obama-worship on college campuses, then for McCain to be only 13 points down to Obama is a remarkably good performance.

Also, it doesn't say for sure, but it appears that the pollsters questioned a random sample of young people, not likely voters. The likely-voter numbers are bound to favor the Republicans more, as they do among all demographics.

-ccm

[DogBarkTree]

They have the biggest mouths but are from from the largest voting block. Oh, I feel faint.

[SlapHappyPappy]

Yeah... about that...

The problem with the “youth vote” is that they get bored of being involved pretty quickly. In other words, they’re great in the early campaign season but seem to evaporate by November.

[avacado]

"This Time We Mean It: The Youth Vote Matters"

"Like when do we need to show up... dude?

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Remember, kids, conservatives vote on Tuesday and liberals vote on Wednesday. (And if you voted in the primary, you don’t have to vote in the general.)

[avacado]

LOL!!!! Love it!

[donna]

36-years ago:

Wooing the Youth Vote
Monday, Jul. 31, 1972

18 in ’08 This group gets its name from a documentary film by teenage director David D. Burstein, ...

A substantial share of McGovern’s hopes for wresting the White House away from Nixon resides in the youth vote. Perhaps as many as 18 million of the 18-to 24-year-old potential new voters could conceivably be registered and eligible to cast their ballots on Nov. 7, and the McGovern game plan foresees as many as 13 million going Democratic.

The Republicans have other ideas. While McGovern’s much-heralded army of 100,000 young volunteers prepares to start its massive registration drive in mid-August, a quiet Republican task force of 125,000 youngsters is already hard at work in 35 states and will move into the 15 others by Aug. 1. (snip)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877924,00.html

[rellimpank]

—yep—letting 18 year olds vote sure did what it was intended to do , didn’t it???

[TNdandelion]

“Vote or Die......or whatever, dude!’

[RightCenter]

You mean it allowed our boys fighting in Vietnam to have a piece of what they were fighting for, i.e. participation in American democracy? Yeah, it did.