Young voters are going to make or break this election on November 4. Go out and vote today.
There's always talk about the impact young voters could have in choosing the next president. But this truly could be a breakout year for them.Among the factors: nearly 2-to-1 support for Barack Obama among 18- to 29-year-olds and a seasoned get-out-the-vote effort that has seen young voter participation steadily rising since 2000....When asked, "Do any of the following words describe how you feel about the upcoming presidential election?" 61 percent of the young respondents chose "interested," while 48 percent chose "hopeful."But, able to choose more than one answer, only about a third of these likely young voters said they were "excited" about the election and 47 percent were "frustrated."These are the sort of answers one might expect from a group of voters who've historically been pegged as Election Day wild cards, but who've also shown they can be counted on - helping get both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton elected, for instance.Show up big this time - and they could put Obama over the top. A lesser youth showing, however, would likely benefit McCain."So turnout suddenly becomes a pretty big ingredient," says Peter Levine, director of Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, otherwise known as CIRCLE.That's especially true in key swing states, such as Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In North Carolina, for instance, the most recent tally available shows 579,858 new registrants who are eligible to vote this year. Many of them 20somethings, they represent about 9 percent of the state's registered voters and could be a difference-maker in a close race, particularly if they support one candidate more heavily than another....In that election, about 47 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted, up from 36 percent in 2000, according to the Census Bureau. While their impact was not felt as greatly because their vote was more evenly split between George W. Bush and John Kerry, no other age group increased its turnout by more than 5 percentage points.And some political scientists expect those numbers to be topped yet again, especially since young voters have been a long-standing centerpiece of Obama's campaign....They may be considered unlikely voters by some. But political scientist Molly Andolina expects many of them will make it to the polls in November."This cohort has shown a lot of resilience," says Andolina, a professor at DePaul University who studies young-voter habits. "Prior to Obama's win in Iowa - when it was known that he was popular among youth - pundits declared that they'd never make it out, in the cold of January, when college and universities were still on break, to spend an hour or more caucusing ..."But they did. And he won."
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