Youth voters flock to polls

By Mary Daly

Published Feb. 5, 2008

Registered voters, ages 18 to 29, are directly between the crosshairs of the candidates’ sights in the 2008 presidential primary.

Youth voter registration rose from 2004 to 2006 and is still increasing, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

According to CIRCLE, 49 percent of 18-to-29-year-old citizens voted in the 2004 presidential election, as opposed to the 40 percent who voted in the 2000 election.

In Missouri, 52 percent of youth voters cast a ballot in the 2004 presidential election, whereas only 38.6 percent voted in the 2000 election.

According to CIRCLE, the majority of youth voters register as independents and are therefore a critical wild-card vote in elections.

Almost all the current candidates running for president have developed programs to win the youth vote.

According to Politico.com, in the South Carolina primary, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., won 67 percent of the youth vote, whereas Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won 23 percent. In the Iowa caucuses, Obama won 57 percent of the youth vote.

At the onset of his campaign for the presidency, Obama hired a national youth vote director.

He also created a Facebook.com account, allowing his message to be spread to millions of voting-age students.

Clinton attempted to combat Obama’s success among young people by launching Students for Hillary, a program on college campuses across the country that rallies support among students.

Chelsea Clinton has also hit the campaign trial for her mother, traveling to high school and college campuses, including MU last week.

She is only a few years older than most college students and could prove more approachable to students.

Republican presidential contender, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, also has a supportive youth following who call themselves Huck’s Army.

Nate Kennedy, College Democrats of Missouri president, suggested why certain candidates receive more of the youth support.

“It’s whoever talks about issues for younger voters, such as the economy, global warming and Iraq, that gets the youth vote,” Kennedy said. “More importantly, it’s the candidate who seems to portray the most common sense ideas.”

UM-St. Louis sophomore Ellen Reed said the part of recent surge in youth voters is because of disdain for the president.

“It’s possible that young people are motivated to vote because they dislike Bush, but I don’t think that’s the whole picture,” Reed said. “I think young people see that they can make a difference and want to make a difference in the country today.”

MU freshman Scott Scheese said he will vote in Missouri’s primary today.

“It’s my duty as much as it is my right as an American,” Scheese said. “I want to make a difference, and this is one way that I can.”