Turnout was strong, but maintaining interest is key
WASHINGTON -- More young voters cast ballots this year than they have in the last two presidential contests as the record turnout reversed the downward trend in youth participation in national elections, according to preliminary analyses and pollsters.
With the help of dozens of get-out-the-vote campaigns, from MTV's "Rock the Vote" to Artists Coming Together and MoveOn.org, nearly 21 million people between the ages of 18 and 29 voted this year, 4.6 million more than four years ago, the data show. Overall, 51.6 percent of twentysomethings were heard on Election Day, compared to 42.3 percent in 2000.
"Young voters are back, and politicians will ignore them at their peril," said Daniel M. Shea, a political science professor who directs Allegheny College's Center for Political Participation in Meadville, Pa. "I'm convinced that we've turned the corner and that young Americans will continue to be important players in the electoral process,"
But young adults still accounted for only 17 percent of the total vote nationwide, the same as in 2000.
In the 10 most contested battleground states, the turnout among young adults was even more pronounced. Sixty-four percent went to the polls, up 13 points from 2000, according to national exit poll figures compiled by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
In some of those states, young voters made up a higher percentage of the overall vote than they did nationally. For example, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, they accounted for 21 percent of the total statewide ballots and 20 percent in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Kerry won all of those states but Ohio.
In 2000, young people voted for Democrat Al Gore over then-governor George W. Bush by a 48 percent to 46 percent count. This year the gap widened, 54 percent for Kerry and 46 percent for Bush.
The last presidential election that brought out such large numbers of young people was 1992, when Democrat Bill Clinton won the White House. But 1992 was considered an anomaly.
Beginning in 1972, when 18- year-olds won the right to vote, youth participation in national elections had been minimal.
Many preelection polls showed young voters to be split about evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
Up for grabs, they were courted heavily by both parties. Democrats used the opposition on college campuses to the Iraq war and raised the specter of a military draft if Bush were reelected. Republicans, meanwhile, used the war on terrorism to urge young people to take part in their generation's call to duty.
"Both campaigns relied heavily on young activists. They were there, in the trenches," said Shea.
That grass-roots organizing brought many young people into the process, including 1 million new registrants.
"Young adults defied the skeptics who said they didn't care and wouldn't show up to vote," Norman Lear, founder of Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan national organization that brings young people into the political process, said Wednesday. "This generation proved that they do want a voice in our nation's democracy."
The challenge will be to keep young people engaged, especially those who voted for the losing side, political analysts and activists said.
"To get the youth vote, the party can't go back to the left-center paradigm that characterized the party," said Blake Pritchard, 24, a graduate student at the University of Georgia who voted for Bush in 2000 but volunteered for Kerry this year. "We need to reach out to the white evangelicals and other core constituencies like African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans."
"The trick, of course, to sustaining enthusiasm will be in convincing the many young Kerry supporters that their efforts were not in vain, that they made a difference," added Shea. "If they can take their passion and create long-term organizations, they will be a force to reckon with."
Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com
