New & Young voters still only 17% of the total vote

hottytoddy · #1 11-03-2004, 07:51 PM

Polls show that in this election the percentage of young voters(18-25) didn't change. Every time it is always expected to be higher because there are efforts made to get young people out there to vote. But while the total number of young voters that showed up was higher...so was the total number of all other voters. So this means that young/first time voters still only occupy 17% of the total vote.

So can anyone think of something that could get more young people involved?

MTV and big time celebrities obviously aren't the key. But hey, I appluad their efforts.

Perhaps if the candidates spent more time and effort addressing the issues that are important to young people---maybe that could help. But then that's a gamble. If you spend too much time, effort, and money on young voters and they still don't show up...then you've just wasted time effort and money.

Most people think that young voters lean more toward the democratic side...and that may be true. But do they actually go to the polls?

IowaStatePhiPsi · #2 11-03-2004, 07:58 PM

$500 fine for not voting, like in Australia.

I really have no clue what to do for the morons that wont vote. Registered at 60% but voting at 17%.

adpialumcsuc · #3 11-03-2004, 08:12 PM

Of course I can only guess why the rate is low but I think it is because they don't see a lot of issues that really effect them. I am 28 and this is the first year that I have voted. Until this year I didn't feel there were issues that effected me. Of course I know is absolutely wrong, but it is how I felt.

hottytoddy · #4 11-03-2004, 08:45 PM

I ask this too, because I am in the 18-25 range and I vote...so do all of my friends. I was old enough in the 2000 election but was unable to vote due to a problem with my absentee ballot. They told me I did it wrong or something. I had a vote that did not count in that election...so this time I made sure that I did, and I voted early.

Although I must admit...even though I tried to vote then I only recently became interested in politics when I worked on the campaign for Haley Barbour (Gov. of Mississippi). And I also (minimally) worked for the Trent Lott re-election campaign (went door to door and stuff). So I guess I became interested in politics during college....however I registered pretty much the day I turned 18 and participated in all of the local elections and stuff.

So I guess I just don't understand why people don't vote...because I voted even when I wasn't as interested.

hoosier · #5 11-03-2004, 08:47 PM

Gee, what might've happened to all the young voters?

In this article from Opinion Journal, the blame is shared by Nixon, Roe v Wade, and abortion:

Gee, what might've happened to all the young voters? Well, consider this: You're not allowed to vote unless you've passed your 18th birthday. In order to have any birthdays at all, you have to have been born. And over the past 30 years or so, many Americans have ended up not being born.

About.com lists the number of abortions in the U.S. each year starting in 1973, "based on assumptions by the Alan Guttmacher Institute." If we add up the numbers from 1975-86, we come up with approximately 17.5 million missing eligible voters between 18 and 29 years old. Exit polls found that voters this age who were born went for Kerry over Bush, 54% to 45%, while Bush had a majority in all other age groups. If it's true that women who have abortions tend to be more liberal than those who don't, then the unborn 18- to 29-year-olds likely would have favored the Democrat even more heavily.

Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision mandating legal abortion nationwide, was written by Justice Harry Blackmun, a Nixon appointee. Perhaps somewhere old Tricky Dick is smiling at how his judicial legacy helped the Republicans.

sugar and spice · #6 11-03-2004, 08:52 PM

Hahahaha . . .

In that case Republicans should be in full support of Roe v. Wade, since they wouldn't be getting elected without it.

But there is some truth to this, I bet. We were discussing earlier how it's always the crazy uber-conservative & traditional Christian Right/Catholic/Mormon families that have 10 kids. I bet liberals are more likely to remain childless or have fewer children than conservatives. I'd like to see a statistic on the average number of kids of a Bush voter versus a Kerry voter . . .

Rudey · #7 11-03-2004, 08:58 PM

This is based on exit polls. This is one of the least proven methods ever out there and the media runs with it.

Has anyone seen a percentage based on actual votes? Can they even track that?

Also, many youth send in absentee ballots which weren't counted in the 17%.

The thing about conservative youth and right-wing youth (one is different from the other) is that they've become much more organized and effective. The Reagan Youth movement is legendary in that aspect and was alive in this election even.

-Rudey

hottytoddy · #8 11-03-2004, 09:02 PM

True. But I'm willing to bet if they could track it, that not much changed. Young people just don't vote. Why, I don't know.

Rudey · #9 11-03-2004, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hottytoddy
True. But I'm willing to bet if they could track it, that not much changed. Young people just don't vote. Why, I don't know.

Because they are not being taxed, they are not in families, they are not working or running their own busineses, etc.

-Rudey

mrblonde · #10 11-03-2004, 09:08 PM

Is that also why they tend to be liberal?

I kid because I love.

hottytoddy · #11 11-03-2004, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
Because they are not being taxed, they are not in families, they are not working or running their own busineses, etc.

-Rudey

Yeah, I think they feel that won't be affected either way.

smiley21 · #12 11-03-2004, 09:17 PM

i heard that while record number of young people voted, there was also a record in the other age groups. so that is why there was not a change.

hottytoddy · #13 11-03-2004, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by smiley21
i heard that while record number of young people voted, there was also a record in the other age groups. so that is why there was not a change.

Because there were record numbers of all voters. The percentage just didn't change.

hottytoddy · #14 11-03-2004, 09:21 PM

Oh yeah...that's what you said. Nevermind...I misread your post.

AGDee · #15 11-03-2004, 11:47 PM

I have no research or anything to back this up, but I have to wonder if people that age feel kind of helpless about what goes on in the world. Before 18, most decisions are made for you and you just have to go along with things. You haven't made a whole lot of big decisions for yourself. Professors in college still treat you like juveniles (like having attendance policies) and the college environment gives you little control over anything (they are very dictatorlike toward their customers, the students). Maybe they think they can't really make a difference because nobody listens to their opinions or lets them act like adults most of the time.

Dee