Posted on 12/17/2006 6:12:40 PM PST by neverdem
Participation climbs for second straight major election; 18-29s vote for Democrats by 22-point margin
Washington DC - Nov. 08, 2006 Young voters turned out to vote in higher numbers and favored Democrats by a wide margin, according to exit polls, providing a major boost to Democratic candidates in yesterday’s House and Senate elections. The 2006 turnout increase follows on the unprecedented 2004 youth turnout and provides further evidence that the new generation coming of age today is more engaged than young voters in recent decades.
Exit polls on CNN’s website confirm that young voters increased their share of the electorate substantially from 2002. In 2002, 18-29s comprised 11% of all votes cast; in yesterday’s 2006 election, 18-29s cast 13% of the votes. This is a significant result, considering that young people are actually a smaller share of the electorate in 2006 than they were in 2002, and also that turnout overall in the 2006 election appears to be up from 2002. The data shows that the increase in voter turnout for 18-29 year olds in 2006 significantly outpaced the overall population turnout increase.
The 2006 results continue the positive trend from 2004, when young voters also outpaced the turnout increase in the presidential election. Turnout for 18-29s climbed more than 9 percentage points in 2004, with 4.6 million more young voters showing up than in 2000, according to the University of Maryland’s youth voter research institute, CIRCLE.
With a confirmed Democratic take-over of the House and the Senate hanging in the balance, young people also have demonstrated their political clout. CNN’s national exit polls show young voters favored Democrats by a 22-point margin, nearly three times the margin that Democrats earned among other age groups.
"Young voters increased their turnout and favored Democrats by large margins," said Hans Riemer, Rock the Vote’s political director. "They played a major role in the Democratic victory."
A sample of exit polling from close Senate races around the country shows that the youth vote was key to the Democratic victory.
US Senate 18-29 yrs
Democrat Republican
Virginia 52% 48%
Rhode Island 65% 35%
Pennsylvania 68% 32%
Ohio 57% 43%
Missouri 49% 48%
Montana 56% 44%
Results from House races also show a strong impact for Democrats from the youth vote increase.
With Democrats depending on young voters for their election showing, Republicans will have a strong incentive to win the margin back for 2008. Historical data shows that when a person votes with one party for three consecutive elections, that person stays with the party for life. If Democrats should win the youth vote again in 2008 there could be serious long-term political consequences—as the generation increases its voting turnout over time and becomes a larger share of the electorate.
ABOUT ROCK THE VOTE:
Rock the Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to building political power for young people (www.rockthevote.com). Founded in 1990, Rock the Vote helped spark a major increase in young voter turnout in 2004, registering 1.4 million young voters.
Additional data about young voter turnout in 2006 is available at Young Voter Strategies (www.youngvoterstrategies.com).
How do they actually know how someone voted? I never understood that. When the votes are tallied do they have a tag on them that says oh this one was and 18 year old and this one was a 90 years old. I don't get it.
"Young voters turned out to vote in higher numbers and favored Democrats by a wide margin, according to exit polls, providing a major boost to Democratic candidates in yesterday’s House and Senate elections."
They literally stand outside the polling places, and ask the voters how did they just vote and for what reasons, what's their age, etc.
If you look at the looney comments on YouTube, this is not at all surprising. There are a lot of young moonbats there. They believe that Bush lied about going into Iraq, and that Bush was behind 911. Utterly nuts!
And the GOP is set to nominate a 72 year old guy with melanoma who's best known for spending 5 years in a tiger cage during a war that no one under the age of 40 has any meaningful memories of or can relate to in a ny real way.
Smart move.
The young skulls full of mush start voting and the 'RATS take control of the taxpayers' wallets. Figures. The young skulls full of mush aren't paying taxes yet. They are still parasites living off their parents.
Rock the vote, my ass.
Most of the increased turnout was due to the minimum wage referendums all over the place.
Democrats used a GOP tool against them, and the GOP wasn't interested in a response.
I don't have a heart according to that.
I suspect that the Dems will have to jettison Social Security if they want to keep these young voters.
1. The draft rumor is still prevalnet on college campuses and even among those in their mid-to-late 20s.
2. If you are 24, the median age of the 18-29 group, you only remember Clinton and GWB as President.
Your entire childhood, you heard that we had a great economy and America was loved the world over.
The minute you became an adult, you were told that the future was awful, you had no job prospects because employers were outsourcing to the Third World, the deficit is going to rob you of what little money you do make, and America is hated the world over.
The other President was impeached for lying about a blowjob, which isn't even sex.
Meanwhile, the current President got re-elected despite his wanting to condemn you to a hellish death in the desert.
Finally, even if you have somehow managed to come to believe:
that people, not government, spend money better;
that an armed society is a polite society;
that abortion morally reprehensible and should be wiped off the face of the Earth
and that the War on Terror is worht fighting, why on Earth would it occur to you that Republicans believe these things?
I agree with your view but don't be too hasty
in pointing the finger og blame at the youngsters.
This analysis was put forth by rockthevote... I'd
be skeptical of their analysis.
IIRC, that's how they obtain the sample, and they can't sample everyone. No one has the resources. Everyone wouldn't co-operate either. Some folks wouldn't give truthful answers either. What would you propose?
Those who vote with heart today... will vote with brains tomorrow.
You are completely correct. I am 20. I've seen the light, though.
Aaaa, what the Hell, dumb them down just a little more just for good measure. We wouldn't want them to be smart enough to maybe have second thoughts.
"A government large enough to give you everything you want, is a government large enough to take everything you have away from you." President Gerald Ford.
Won't matter by then. They'll be outnumbered by too many old, black, and Hispanic people that vote Democrat. All three of these groups break predominantly 'rat, especially if you threaten the retiring Baby Boomers with loss of benefits.
The numbers were affected by the reduced turnout of not so young voters,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.