Nearly half of youth vote turned out in 2004

Published Thursday
November 17, 2005

Nearly half of youth vote turned out in 2004



WASHINGTON (AP) - Turns out, the kids rocked after all.

Nearly half of all eligible young voters cast ballots in the November 2004 election, raising their turnout rate by more than twice any other age group.

"This is big," said David King, associate director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, who highlighted the Census Bureau findings in a report issued Wednesday. "When you vote young, you're much more likely to vote the rest of your life, so the 2004 campaign turned a generation on to politics."

Exit polls from Election Day 2004 had shown that 9 percent of voters were 18 to 24, about the same proportion of the electorate as in 2000. Those figures were interpreted as a sign that young voters had failed to increase their political impact in an election that focused on the Iraq war.

But the Census numbers suggest that young voters did get involved.

About 47 percent of Americans 18 to 24 voted in 2004, up from 36 percent in 2000, according to the Census Bureau. No other age group increased its turnout by more than 5 percentage points.

Even with the increase, the youngest voters still had the lowest turnout rate. Nearly three of every four people ages 55 to 74 voted in 2004.

Those numbers explain why elderly voters are highly prized by candidates. But they also suggest there is enormous potential in the young vote, and that efforts by President Bush and Sen. John Kerry to recruit college-age students were worth the trouble.

The 18-24 set's 9 percent of the electorate was up very slightly from 8 percent the previous election. It's unclear what that might mean for the young vote in the future.

"Will it work for kids who were 14 years old in 2004? No idea. That work still remains to be done," King said. "But the 2004 campaign itself was an immense mobilizing event, bringing out the largest percent of young voters in 32 years."

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People have complained in the past about needing to register, so I posted the entire short story.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html

Age 18-29

Bush 45%

Kerry 54%

And my son is in the group coming up to vote - he is primed and ready to participate in the voting process. I have a lot of hope for this upcoming group of young people.

As Randi Rhodes says, you don't come out and vote in those numbers to keep the status quo.

wonder why Puffy Colmes "Vote or Die" movement is under attack from the GOP for being partisan? I mean the religious can be motivated out their ying yangs to vote against abortion but Puffy is not supposed to put millions towards "vote or die".

Think about it?

Watch what they attack. That is where our strength is. It seems that the GOP is afraid of support for disenchanted black youth voting.

As the minority poplation in America grows every year expect more and more Democrats taking office. We have a clinch on that vote by like 2 to 1.

18-24 year olds were the ones who voted for Kerry in the highest percentage.

should boost youth turnout even higher in 2008. Murtha's and other vers' interactions with young amputees at Walter Reed need maximum exposure. For every Iraq soldier killed, many more are maimed or injured. For people young enough to be drafted, "war" is not just a word for sound bytes and talking points.

How many of them are feeling burned now? How many of them are waking up to the lies? How many will never vote corruptican again given the betrayal?

the "low" youth vote was given by some as a reason Kerry "lost" - they didn't turn out for him. Well, those young people did turn out, and they didn't effin' turn out to vote for bush, people didn't wait in line for HOURS to vote to vote for bush. Those weren't bush voters. We know it, the youth - that generation knows it, the bush supporters know it.

I hope none of them walk away from politics because they also know, then, that the election was stolen. And they're waiting to see the response. I hope they stick around, especially for 06 and 08, and I hope the Dems give them reason to.

I'd like to see a national referendum on impeaching bush and his gang and having them answer for their crimes. Leave it up to the voters.

I'm rambling.

and the same is true with any yahoo who voted for Ralph Nader.

"As the minority poplation in America grows every year expect more and more Democrats taking office. We have a clinch on that vote by like 2 to 1."


I'm pretty sure the Voting Rights Act is up for renewal this year.

I doubt the GOP will renew it, in which case your projection may not come to pass.

cause them to just stay home next time. I think that a majority of the reason people don't come out to vote is because they think it won't matter if they do or not. They don't think their vote counts, so why bother. We need to get rid of the corporate voting machines and give people a reason to feel that they make a difference.