Youth helped Obama victory

Adam Wolffbrandt
November 7, 2008
The youth vote may have been crucial to Barack Obama’s victory Tuesday, nonpartisan groups said.
Between 22 and 24 million young Americans went to the polls, up at least 2.2 million from 2004, according to The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University (CIRCLE).
Young voters favored Obama over McCain 66 percent to 32 percent; 18 percent of all voters were between 18 to 29.
The actual turnout estimate is unofficial because some precincts that have not reported their votes and absentee votes may not be counted for a while.
Kentucky statistics will not be available for about three months so individual ballots can be counted.
This year’s voter turnout was the highest ever among young voters, said Stephanie Young, communications associate of Rock the Vote, an organization that encourages young voters to register and cast their ballots.
Young people have been extremely passionate about getting their voice out, Young said.
“President-elect Obama did a good job in his campaigning by reaching out to young people and making them feel important and feel like they were a part of his campaign,†Young said.
Other reasons why young people voted were the economy, college graduates having trouble finding jobs, obtaining health care, college affordability and war, she said.
“These issues have pushed young people over the top and propelled them toward change in political attitudes and in wanting to fix what’s wrong in this country,†Young said.
2004 had good youth voter turnout because votes were flipped between Democratic and Republican parties, but the 2 million increase in the number of young voters show even more youth are turning out, said CIRCLE director Peter Levine.
“This year’s elections showed that a huge amount of young, white supporters voted for Obama,†Levine said. “I believe a lot of white youth voted for Obama and their parents voted for McCain because of a dynamic change in traditional values.â€
Stephen Voss, an associate political science professor at UK, said he believes nationwide, the youth vote did not increase, but the turnout of young people was still high.
Youth turnout did reach impressive levels in many battleground locations and during the general election, he said, because those were the places where campaigns funded aggressive efforts to register young people and get them to the polls.
The participation of younger voters tended to help Democrats, he said.
“Young people are much more Democratic and much more liberal than the generations that preceded them,†Voss said. “Even among white Anglos, though, this generation does stand out compared to Generation X for their dislike for the Republican Party.â€
The importance of voting is not limited to members of the party winning the presidential election, though.
Hannah Buchele, a UK nursing student, voted for McCain by absentee ballot and said she believes her vote did matter in the presidential elections.
“It’s important that students vote because it is our nation and as college students, the careers that we choose could be affected by who we make president, and the choices they make,†Buchele said. “It’s always important to voice our opinion.â€