Young voters, ranging from ages 18 to 29, boasted a 51.6 percent
turnout rate on Tuesday ““ a 9.3 percent increase over the
2000 presidential election, according to Los Angeles Times exit
polls.
The proportion of youth voters compared to the electorate as a
whole remained at the 2000 level of 17 percent, a notable statistic
given that Tuesday’s election exhibited a 60 percent total
turnout ““ the highest since the contentious presidential
election of 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
The numbers show that efforts to encourage the youth to vote
helped to increase the youth turnout, though not as much as some
may have hoped.
“This turnout shows that students do care and that they
are interested in politics,” said John Vu, the internal vice
president of Undergraduate Students Association Council, which led
a get out the vote drive resulting in 3,000 registered voters at
UCLA alone, most of whom were students.
Approximately 20.9 million young people voted on Tuesday, a jump
of 4.6 million voters compared to 2000.
The increase could be the result of “more participation on
the part of the candidates to reach out to young voters on issues
that matter to them, which is a step in the right direction,”
said Holly Teresi, the communications director of the Youth Vote
Coalition, an organization aimed at encouraging youth to vote.
The issue most strongly on the minds of young voters was
“accessibility to high-paying jobs and the economy,”
Teresi said.
The war on terror and the war in Iraq, as well as accessibility
to higher education, were also galvanizing topics among young
voters, Teresi added.
The increased number of young voters could make an especially
significant statement given that the largest jump was recorded in
10 of the nation’s battleground states, where overall youth
voter turnout reached 64 percent, 12.4 percent higher than the
youth turnout nationally.
“The high youth voter turnout is going to allow us more
lobbying power and stronger legitimacy when talking to state
politicians,” said Allende Palma/Saracho, the president of
USAC, which joined with UC Students Association before the election
to register over 30,000 predominantly young voters statewide.
The effect of similar efforts aimed at registering young voters,
such as those led by Rock the Vote, Sean “P. Diddy”
Combs’ “Vote or Die” campaign and partisan groups
like MoveOn.org, was heavily felt on Election Day, as 72 percent of
first-time voters were between 18 and 29.
Some critics are questioning the strength of the youth turnout,
given the resources and energy invested by the get out the vote
campaigns toward making voting fresh and appealing. However, most
analysts are “waiting on more definitive numbers before
making that call,” Teresi said.
Young people have historically been labeled as liberal and the
numbers coming out of this election were no exception.
Young voters, in fact, were the only age bloc to lean toward the
Democrats. Fifty-five percent voted for Democratic nominee Sen.
John Kerry, while 43 percent voted for Republican incumbent
President Bush, according to L.A. Times exit polls.
Given that the majority of young voters voted for the losing
candidate, a debate has been sparked concerning the effect the
election’s outcome will have on the political morale of
youth.
“A lot of students are going to feel very discouraged,
even angered, but for a lot more (students), this will inspire and
motivate them to fight even harder for their political
beliefs,” Vu said.