Youth Voters Poised to Change Political Landscape
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff. Date Posted: May 07, 2008
As the 2008 primary season nears its conclusion, it will be remembered not only for launching the first Black man or a woman of any race toward a general-election bid for the White House, but also for inspiring millions of new voters, largely Black, white and Latino. And by and large, those new voters have been young.
Look no further than yesterday's contests in Indiana and North Carolina. Voters younger than 30 voted 17 percent and 14 percent in those states, respectively.
A new survey by The Associated Press (AP) indicates more than 3.5 million first-time registered voters are going to the ballots, with figures up dramatically for Blacks and women, in addition to young people, reports CNN.com.
In the first three months of 2008, new Democratic registration nearly tripled to 74,590 from the same period in 2004, reports CNN.com. More than 49,558 undeclared voters also joined the fray, compared with 16,858 in the first three months of 2004.
In conducting its survey, AP found that in the 21 states that were able to provide comparable data from the first three months of 2004, only Iowa showed a decline. In the four states that provided data about race in 2004 and 2008 (Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and North Carolina), a surge in Black voters was noted in each.
Another poll, commissioned by Reader's Digest, says voters younger than 30 have been rushing to the polls and are likely to do so for many years to come. Other findings showed 47 percent of these young people have tried to influence the vote of a friend, and 36 percent have tried to influence a parent.
Dubbing 2008 the year of "The Facebook Election," Reader's Digest says this could be the first time voters younger than 30 determine the next occupant of the White House. According to that survey, these voters favor Obama by 55 percent to Sen. John McCain by 33 percent in a head-to-head contest. Clinton wins out against McCain, 49 percent to 39 percent.
If the candidate they support loses the nomination, 59 percent of voters younger than 30 in the Reader's Digest survey say they will support the nominee of the party regardless, while 16 percent will go with McCain, and 17 percent are unsure.
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