Young Voter Turnout Up for Second Major Election

Young Voter Turnout Up for Second Major Election in a Row; Exit Poll ShowsYoung Voter Turnout Up by More Than 2M Voters Over 2002
New Lake-Goeas Opinion Poll Shows Young Voters Motivated to Vote by Desire for Change, Contact From Groups and Campaigns

Turnout among 18 to 29- year-old voters increased by more than 2 million voters in the 2006 elections compared to 2002, according to an early exit poll analysis released today as part of the first comprehensive look at the youth vote in the midterm elections, presented by Young Voter Strategies. At least 10 million votes were cast by this age group in 2006 compared to 8 million in 2002, and the vote counts are still coming in. Youth-dense precincts that were targeted by Get-Out-the-Vote campaigns showed even larger increases. Turnout more than doubled in the 36 precincts where groups like the nonpartisan Student PIRGs' New Voters Project actively turned out this age cohort.

Also released today, a new bipartisan poll by Ed Goeas and Celinda Lake shows that in 2006 young voters were motivated primarily by a strong desire for change, combined with high levels of contact from campaigns and nonpartisan organizations: 61 percent of those who were surveyed said they feel the country is on the "wrong track" and 52 percent report being contacted by a campaign.

"A new generation of voters has arrived as a force in politics," said Heather Smith, director of Young Voter Strategies. "For the second major election in a row, turnout among young voters increased -- yesterday's election showed that 2004 was the start of a trend of increasing young voter turnout. Today's young adults proved that they're a critical voting bloc for both political parties to court -- at 42 million strong, this generation will only grow in importance as more and more vote in each election."

An analysis of the National Election Pool's exit poll for 18 to 29-year-olds, conducted by the University of Maryland's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found that turnout among 18 to 29-year-olds yesterday increased at least 4 percentage points over 2002 figures to 24 percent. This is a greater increase than was seen in the overall electorate; the share of votes cast by young people increased by at least 2 points.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=76005

they voted, one even went the extra mile to do absentee for school reasons, and they ALSO hammered the shit out of their friends and work colleagues to VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!

I am proud of this generation, we reared them right.

as the group most screwed by BushCo (threats of draft, trashing of education and job opportunity, lack of health care, and general disrespect), they rejected BushCo 2:1!