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Not Slackers After All?
MSNBC ^ | Nov. 12, 2004 | Sarah Childress

Posted on 11/15/2004 8:45:41 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection

Ever since 18- to 20-year-olds were granted the right to vote in 1972, many of them haven’t exercised that privilege. And throughout modern history, those aged 21 to 29 have typically been less likely to vote than older Americans. After a brief spike in 1992, turnout among 18- to 29-year-olds in the 2000 presidential election dropped more than 20 percentage points below the national average—46 percent to the other age groups' 72 percent.

So when exit polls suggested many of America’s youth had stayed home once again this year, the media wasn’t surprised. The Associated Press wrote them off by early evening on Election Day, saying the turnout wasn’t the groundswell that had been expected. Final exit polls showed that 18-29-year-olds made up only 17 percent of all voters—similar to 2000’s turnout. "Yeah, we rocked the vote all right,” gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson griped to the Aspen (Colo.) Daily News on election night. “Those little bastards betrayed us again." And as a final insult, the Drudge Report posted this snarky headline: VOTE OR DIE OR WHATEVER.

Dumbfounded youth-vote organizers had spent months hitting bars, coffee shops and libraries with voter-registration forms and get-out-the-vote fliers, knocking on dormitory doors and text-messaging cell phones...

He may have been right: the exit polls didn’t tell the whole story. According to a new analysis of voter data, turnout among the under-30 set shot up 9 percent from 2000. The study, conducted by the University of Maryland’s Center for Information & Research on Civil Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), found that at least 20.9 million in the 18-29-year-old bracket voted, compared with only about 16 million in 2000.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: genx; young8voters
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

21 posted on 11/15/2004 12:02:45 PM PST by Ryan Spock
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To: k2blader; t_skoz; qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; tortoise; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; ...
Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Gen-Reagan/Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

22 posted on 11/15/2004 1:29:02 PM PST by qam1 (McGreevy likes his butts his way, I like mine my way - so NO SMOKING BANS in New Jersey)
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To: spodefly
I was also wondering how the military vote was counted. A large percentage of the military voters are within these age brackets. I think that in this election, a larger than normal percentage of the military voted, therefore, increasing the youth vote, although I think they were more influenced by their scorn of John Kerry as Commander In Chief than by anything that P Diddy said.
23 posted on 11/15/2004 1:59:36 PM PST by usflagwaver
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
For some reason, people are very quick to fall back into assuming that young people are lazy and apathetic,” Donovan says.

Gee, why would that be? Perpetuating stereotypes isn't something the media does at all. /sarcasm

Unless it comes to Gen X, or the GOP, of course.

24 posted on 11/15/2004 2:13:16 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: gridlock; Tumbleweed_Connection

How does this %$/$% spilt figure into what the DLC was saying the other day, that the Dems only won two deomgraphics: High school droputs and postgrad whites?


25 posted on 11/15/2004 2:31:37 PM PST by Mr. Silverback (Hey Kerry: Confucius say "KA-STANG!! YOU BUSTED!")
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection; gridlock

Oops! I meant to say 54/45 spilt. Sorry it looked like I was swearing, I didn't notice I was pressing on the shift button!


26 posted on 11/15/2004 2:33:22 PM PST by Mr. Silverback (Hey Kerry: Confucius say "KA-STANG!! YOU BUSTED!")
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To: Mr. Silverback

High school dropouts and post-graduates went Donk, huh? Why does that not surprise me. Fortunately, there are a lot more people in the middle.


27 posted on 11/15/2004 4:27:13 PM PST by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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