Great Expectations: Will Youth Voters Show on the Big Day?

The 2004 presidential election saw a huge increase in voter turnout among young people, aged 18 to 24. Salacious ad campaigns, celebrity-candidates and increased online activity among young people seem to bode well for young voter participation in 2008. 

The 2004 presidential election marked youth voter turnout's highest point since the 1992 presidential election. Young people, ages 18-24, comprised the age group that showed the greatest increase in voter turnout from the 2000 to the 2004 presidential elections. Voter participation within this age group jumped 11 percent, from 36 percent of the overall 2000 presidential election vote to 47 percent of the overall 2004 presidential election vote. 

Such a dramatic increase in young people's involvement was in part, due to voter outreach efforts. The Bush and Kerry campaigns specifically targeted young voters in the 2004 presidential election by making numerous campus visits around the nation. Celebrities such as actor Jake Gyllenhaal and hip-hop mogol Sean "Diddy" Combs with his Vote or Die campaign, crusaded for the youth voter cause not by campaigning on behalf of a candidate, but rather on behalf of voting itself. 

A poll taken in February 2008 and featured in on The New York Times' website shows the significantly larger degree to which young people are paying attention and involved in the 2008 presidential election compared to the 2004 presidential election. There has been a 32 percent increase in young people who pay attention to election activity, from 13 percent in 2000 to 42 percent in 2004 to  74 percent in 2008. Also, 71 percent of those polled said they were interested and involved in the upcoming election. 

Voting among college-educated young people has generally been double that of non-college-educated young people. Between the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, the percent of college-educated young people voting increased by 12 percent. There is a correlation between college education and voter participation. Election activity, whether on college campuses or online social networks geared toward college-age young people such as Facebook, has only increased since the 2004 presidential election. 

However, only 25 percent of young voters are college-educated. Therefore, the significant portion of young voters who are not college-educated might be inspired to vote if only exposed to the activity and dialogue that takes place on college campuses.

Will you make it to the polls come Nov. 3? Gauge your political involvement by taking this quiz.