Five Myths About Young Voters - WaPo/RockTheVote

Five myths about young voters
By Heather Smith - President of Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to youth voter outreach.
Sunday, October 24, 2010

In 2008, young voters swept President Obama and a Democratic majority into office. He spoke to them, texted them, involved them -- and they showed up. Now, with the midterms approaching, the president is again trying to energize these voters. At an event last month at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he told the crowd, "We can't sit this one out."

That's the worry among Democrats and a constant refrain from both sides: Young voters are fickle and will stay home. It's just one of the myths being peddled about young voters and what it will take to get them to the polls next week.

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1. Democrats need young voters to show up Nov. 2. Too bad they won't.

Both parties should be worried about youth turnout, but not because young people don't want to vote. In a recent Rock the Vote poll, we found that they are paying attention to the election but that most don't relate to the political parties or their bickering. They do, however, relate to individual candidates who address issues they care about, such as jobs, the economy, keeping college affordable, energy independence and same-sex marriage.

This generation of young voters -- the 22.5 million 18-to-29-year-olds who voted in 2008 -- has momentum in its favor. Youth participation at the ballot box has been steadily increasing in both midterm and presidential elections. In the 2006 midterms, the turnout rate among young voters increased to 25 percent, from 22 percent in 2002, according to census data.

With a few notable exceptions, candidates from both parties this year have done a bad job connecting with young people. They're not on campuses, at concerts or at football games when organizations such as mine are out registering voters or figuring out how to get them to the polls.

At Rock the Vote, we're confident that the turnout among young voters will climb again this year in the places where office-seekers have made the effort. We just wonder why more candidates haven't taken a cue from the last election cycle and included young people in their outreach.

2. With Facebook and text messages, there's no need to knock on doors anymore...

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More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/22/AR2010102202699_pf.html

:kick:

it's a killer...

liked to read the rest. can someone name the other 3 myths?

ellen fl

It's free to sign up.

3. After '08, everyone learned how to energize new voters.

4. There is a huge enthusiasm gap between the mostly Democratic new voters from '08 and the tea party movement.

5. Obama has rekindled his campaign magic with big rallies in battleground states.

:hi: