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New Report Shows How Young Voters Are Likely to Impact the Presidential Election |
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From The Century Foundation: With an upward trend in young voter turnout in recent years, Democracy Fellow Tova Wang and Kristen Oshyn predict that youth turnout in 2008 will reach a new level of participation, giving young voters the potential to make an unprecedented impact on the campaigns and electoral outcomes. In "Youth Vote 2008," a new issue brief from The Century Foundation, Wang and Oshyn look at the history of how young voters have been brought into the electoral process compared to more recent and possible future processes. Highlighting research, they argue that the current upward trend of young voter turnout will not only impact the 2008 election but politics for the next generation. The authors found that campaigns and candidates are increasingly reaching out to young voters but that they continue to fail to address issues of interest to young people in terms that are relevant to their lives. The report addresses the following issues: - History of the Youth Vote: Youth historically have had very poor voter turnout, which was perpetuated by a cycle of politicians not addressing issues that young voters cared about because they didn't vote and young voters assuming politicians just didn't care. Potential Impact of Youth Vote 2008: Huge numbers of young adults express plans to participate in the upcoming election and primaries -- 75% of young adults are registered to vote for 2008, 42% said that they are "definitely" going to participate in a primary or caucus, and 92% of 18-29 year olds said that they are "almost certain" to vote in 2008.
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