Youth voters a force in '08 race

Youth voters a force in '08 race
9/11 and Iraq war spur participation

By Susan Milligan, Boston Globe Staff | May 13, 2007

NEW YORK -- Young voters, who for decades played a marginal role in electoral politics, have emerged as a powerful new force in the 2008 elections and are poised to determine the next president as a result of an explosion in political activity among youth, according to pollsters, political organizers, and young voters themselves.

Spurred into action by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq, youths 18 to 24 years of age have dramatically accelerated their participation in politics, both at the ballot box and on college campuses. After a steady decline in youth voting since the close of the Vietnam War, young voter participation increased from 36 percent in 2000 to 47 percent in 2004, representing a huge jump. Analysts also project that the final statistics from 2006 will show it to be a record year for youth voting in a midterm con gressional election.

The Internet has accelerated the trend, giving young people a cheap and efficient tool to organize rallies, recruit volunteers, and exchange information about candidates. With passions high over the war, national security, and global warming, young people today are shaping up as a political power bloc that could exceed the influence of antiwar protesters in the late 1960s and early 1970s, pollsters and analysts predict.

Further, the current crop of young voters is trending more Democratic -- unlike the previous generation of youth -- giving the eventual Democratic nominee a key advantage in the general election, according to two independent surveys of young voters.

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