djtestudo

Interesting stat that I heard earlier on one of the channels. Approxamately 17% of those who have voted this year are the so-called "young" voters everyone has been saying will come out in bigger numbers then ever. That is the same number as 2000.

Now, since it is 3:00 A.M. and I am slightly on the tired side, I may not have that exact . However, I find it interesting anyway after all the predictions of young people voting en masse.

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molloby

Well, it does show that the youth vote increased, but only in-line with the voter increase overall.

smooth

you think it's interesting that a bunch of nihilistic fucktards didn't get off their self-absorbed asses to vote?

It pisses me off.


When I'm 50 and they are 40, and half of them are liberally minded, I'm going to sock one in the mouth if they say some stupid shit about our then current conservative supreme court justices or run afoul of the law.

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MSD

I'll be 41, not 40, but don't punch me, I voted and actively encouraged young people to vote as well as getting them registered.

DDDDave

When you are 50 and they are 40 neither one of you will be liberals.

JMHO

P.S. Not to hijack, but the president does not appoint SC justices unilaterally. They must be voted on, and that is not always a sure thing. Remember Bork?

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inharmony

I have to say I was shocked when I voted yesterday. I am 40 and I think I was probably one of the younger ones in line. I did expect to see more younger voters this time around.

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SecretMethod70

Um, ok, see, there's a problem with this logic. The voter turnout was not 17% of registered voters 18-25, it was 17% of registered voters 18-DEAD. Now, you're going to tell me that you expect significantly more than 17% of the 18-DEAD voters to be 18-25? I don't even have to look at the statistics to tell you that people 18-25 are not more than, say, 20% of people 18-DEAD.

17% for young voters is pretty decent turnout. Think about this. It was 17% of MORE VOTERS OVERALL. So, voters 17-25 saw the same sharp increase in voter turnout that EVERY OTHER AGE GROUP DID. Go figure, other age groups might be more interested in this election too

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archer2371

It feels kind of weird to be part of a statistic, but I am, feels kinda good though since it has something to do with something I believe in, the political process.

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crafty

I'm 19 and I cast my vote yesterday!

In Nebraska I didn't make much of a difference though. I knew my support would not be required for the presidential race, but I was more concerned about initiatives to bring gambling to Nebraska. Sadly they made those too confusing with 4 initiatives and the legislature put out a similar amendment to counteract, and everything got shot down =(. It's funny, my father voted for the amendment and against the initiatives, and I voted opposite, so we got mad at each other for not previously discussing.

mkultra

As a younger voter currently at a university that has seen a lot of political activity and airtime on CNN as well as a stop on the eternally retarded Vote or Die fiasco, I can truthfully say that more young people voted, but that they didn't vote the way a lot of people thought they would. A lot of younger people hate Bush for various (some good, some bad, some completely irational) reasons. But I have yet to meet one that was going to vote for Kerry for any other reason than "He's not Bush". I think the predominate reason that more younger people didn't vote is the fact that they didn't see an option that really interested them either way. Neither major party gave them a good reason to vote, since both candidates are likely to make any major changes (making changes didn't get them as far as they are now). In the end I think a lot of people decided to vote the status quo. And by the way, the whole draft scare thing didn't work on anyone with more than half a brain. Even as apathetic as my generation is, we are used to being mislead by you guys and the fact that the last draft vote was turned down by all but the 2 congressmen that started it (who were democrats) was not lost on us. It also helps to field a candidate that has an economic policy that makes sense, and isn't just a collection of soundbites. If you want to win the youth vote, field a candidate that is social liberal and fiscally conservative.

Disclaimer: While I have talked to a lot of college students here the opinions are my own (I don't claim to have polls of the nation, so I can't use any really neat statistica; tricks), so don't start flaming me about you being a young person that thinks the exact opposite. And I voted for Badnarik.

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keyshawn

I'm 18, and voted this past election, pretty ashamed that my fellow peers didn't vote...From what I heard, it's not that they're apathetic about their future, they're apathetic about American beauraucracy and American politicians. Neither of the candidates made a visible effort to the youth crowd, and as a result; we [collectively] were given the impression that our opinion doesn't really matter.

It's just the general stigma that older adults give us [that we're ignorant, materialistic, lazy, etc.] and thus, it just continues the cycle of our political apathy. We're not listened/catered to, so we don't we care. Cycle continues.

I'm pretty surprised that it's actually only 17% - can anyone give a real credible source on this ?!?!?

The_wall

I'm 19 and voted. I think young people don't vote for a number of reasons. For one a lot of them havn't really lived in a world where politics matter all the much. They just don't see the importance of it because there lives aren't really effected from a change of presidency. Similarly many younger people care about sex, drugs and rock n roll, not the national budget. Politicians also don't really try to appeal to younger people if you ask me.

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Stompy

This is why we need important matters (important to them, anyway) on more ballots, such as legalizing marijuana.

Not only is it a positive step away from our closed-minded upbringings, but it's something that will get the younger crowd up off their ass to make a change.

They say there won't be a draft (I don't think there will be either), but... if there is, expect the younger crowd to show up more at the next election.

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SecretMethod70

OK, seriously listen. I just looked up the statistics and this is being blown way out of proportion. Persons aged 18-25 were approximately 30 million in 2003. In the 2000 US census, the population aged 25 and over was 175 million. Guess what percentage that makes persons aged 18-25 of the entire population....yup, you guessed it! About 17% I just want to make this very clear: young people voted in this election in nearly perfect proportion to their share of the voting populace. So tell the media and MTV to stop spinning this and making young people feel guilty. I'm quite happy with the turnout. Young people get far less respect than they deserve.

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Le temps détruit tout

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VitaminH

I, a 22 year old would like to express my disappointment in the apathy of my generation. That is pitiful. I am almost emberassed to be a part of this generation. I'm working in post-grad college now, but in 2000 thru 2002 I was still in undergrad and all I've seen amongst college students is big opinions about politics. So, where the hell those people come yesterday? I don't care who you would have voted for, you should get out and VOTE. I'm origionally from a town in IL on the IA/IL border, so I have some friends that live in IA, and even they didn't vote. I went nuts when they voiced they "probably wouldn't" vote and made jokes about how it was "to much work". They were in a swing state! Admittedly IA wasn't the deciding factor, but it could have been.

Am I just too cynical?

Edit: This was a post I created in err not seeing this one first. Secret has a point, but with all the strong opinions I've seen amongst my peers, I expected a mugh higher turnout still.

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Carno

When there is someone worth voting for, I will vote. Until then, I will sit back and watch everyone squabble over which crook is better.

quicksteal

Actually, the population 18-25 compared to 18+ would be 30/(30 + 175) = 30/205 = 14.6%. This means that, according to census and exit poll(?) data, a higher proportion of 18-25 year-olds voted. I went to vote at my college, and there were lines out the wazoo full of college-age students. For me, the most interesting thing about the youth vote is that Kerry only won it 54-44. It was predicted that he would do better than this, and the exit poll data was slanted 6 points for Kerry (national prediction: 51-48 Kerry; national vote: 51-48 Bush).

The youth vote came out in this election, but if MTV comes out and claims they had anything to do with it, they're really full of it. Can't they realize that entertainment and politics don't mix (that's why we've got two separate boards on TFP).

nofnway

The funniest thing I heard about this situation was to paraphrase.....young people that Rocking the vote and giving Kerry a shout out at a concert with The Boss isn't quite the same as voting.

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SilverScooter

i'm a "young voter," i voted, and while i am more or less impressed with the numbers themselves, the way we got them is absolutely ludicrous. young people were turning up in droves because its the cool thing to do this year, it's vote or die, right?! in my humble opinion, if the group of young people i'm surrounded by can't decide when to stop drinking, if they can't decide not to smoke pot in a dormatory, if they can't decide not to go out on a friday night and steal street signs, the future of this country should not be remotely in their hands.
i like to consider myself "informed," but it's obvious that the majority of "young voters" managed to pull a 17% "uninformed moron" vote and i would be more than happy to support a movement to take that vote away from us until we learn how to use it. bipartisan registry is one thing, going to the polls blindly and following your buddy and talking about how "hot the bitch in front of [you]" was because of the lack of bipartisan voter education is another.
we got the vote out, but our voters are presently funneling a 40 off of a 3rd story balcony.

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Locobot

You're right, voters 18-25 INCREASED from 2000 from 18 million to 21 million. This increase was across the board though so they remained a constant 17% of the electorate. The youth did support Kerry with 65% of their vote so I don't see them as being to "blame."

Ustwo

Never mind already covered...

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tspikes51

I'm 18 and am proud to have voted yesterday. I tried to make sure all of my friends registered and voted too.

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Carno

Yes, because we know that every person 18-25 smokes weed, drinks irresponsibly and is uninformed.....

Mass generalizations are fun and true!

SecretMethod70

Heh, yeah, thanks for catching that. I shouldn't do math when I'm in a hurry to get to class Just noticed that myself as I was re-reading, but I'm glad someone else pointed that out before me. Now I'm even MORE upset people are complaining about youth voter turnout.

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SilverScooter

while my generalizations were sweeping, isn't it possible that they are true some of the time? isn't it true that even if there is only one person that they apply to then that single person should think twice about voicing their backless opinion and having it count for something? can anyone see that some people voted for all the wrong reasons?

i think that we should think a little harder before trying to take back the vote, or as our biggest supporter puts it, "get gangsta on [the] politicians' asses," if we don't know what it means.

carn, i'd like to respect your opinion, i really would, but a snide little quip of sarcasm doesn't tell me anything. obviously you don't agree with my generalizations, but if can you account for the situations in which they're true and support the subjects' motives to vote other than fad voting, then please, i'd like to see the other side.

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The_wall

To say the younger generation of voters is less informed then any other age group is ludicrous if you ask me. They may have less life experience but they aren't stupid.

I know a lot of soccer mom types who are dumb as bricks.

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mrbuck12000

Give them all a free IPOD and tickets to Blink 182...that will make em vote!!!
tell they gurls they have a chance to be on Voters Gone Wild!!!

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