Young voters turn out in record numbers on Election Day
Published Nov. 7, 2008
In what was deemed the "Year of the Youth Vote," young Americans lived up their billing on Election Day, with an estimated 22 million to 24 million young voters casting a ballot on Tuesday, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).
CIRCLE projected Wednesday that youth voter turnout will be between 49.3 percent and 54.5 percent, which would be an increase of 1 to 6 percentage points over 2004.
Compared with the 2000 election, youth turnout this year would be an increase of 8 to 13 percentage points.
Sujatha Jahagirdar, a program director for Student Public Interest Research Groups, said the increase in youth vote turnout reflected the level of political engagement among young Americans this year.
"Young people exhibited an enormous amount of enthusiasm," she said. "They were very invested in making their voices heard, and really that's reflected in what we saw."
According to CNN exit polls, young white voters, 54 percent of whom backed Democrat Barack Obama, comprised 11 percent of all voters. Young blacks, 95 percent of them voting for Obama, made up 3 percent of the electorate. And young Latinos, 76 percent of whom voted for Obama, were 3 percent of the electorate.
The Student Association for Voter Empowerment in a statement attributed the increase in young voter turnout to several main factors.
SAVE cited the grassroots infrastructure on college campuses, seen in organizations like "Students for Barack Obama" and "Students for McCain." They touted a similarly effective online infrastructure put in place this year that utilized social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
The group also put an emphasis on voter registration seen this year on campuses, in which voter registration volunteers toting clipboards and talking to students were omnipresent throughout the country.
On both sides of the partisan aisle, the leaders of youth-oriented political organizations praised the youth voters for turning out on Tuesday.
Although his candidate lost, Charlie Smith, national chairman of the College Republican National Committee, said he was encouraged by the youth vote turnout on Tuesday.
"I think that this generation of voters is becoming more and more interested in the political process," he said. "I don't think it's something that's going to all of a sudden stop in 2010 and 2012. It's going to continue to accelerate as the Millennial generation continues to pick up more share of the electorate."
Katie Naranjo, president of the College Democrats of America, said earlier this year the youth vote had, in large part, propelled Obama through the primaries and caucuses -- delivering him an upset victory in snowy Iowa in January in the beginning and helping him win the Democratic candidacy in June.
With that mind, she said she wasn't surprised at the high turnout among young voters and their resounding support for Obama.
"The young people have spoken, and Barack Obama by far was our candidate," she said. "He really embraced what we feel will be the future of America."
