For Immediate Release: April 29, 2009
Contact: Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director, 323 309 6120
 
 
Youth Vote Increases Surpass Older Voters
New Analysis Shows Third Consecutive Rise in Youth Vote
 
[Los Angeles, CA]  Young voter turnout across the country rose for the third time in as many presidential election cycles, according to a new analysis by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).
 
According to CIRCLE analysis of raw turnout data, the number of voters under 30 who showed up at the polls in 2008 increased by approximately 11 percent, while the number of older voters who cast a ballot increased by only 3 percent.  
 
Increases in young voter turnout rates also surpassed those of older voters in the 2008 elections.  Between 2004 and 2008, turnout rates among young voters rose, while those of older age groups remained steady or decreased. 
 
 “The trend clearly shows that young people are turning out in bigger and bigger numbers,“ said Sujatha Jahagirdar, Program Director for the Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project.

Several factors - from increased attention paid to young voters by candidates to the proliferation of technology in the lives of young voters to a rise in civic engagement among young people - contributed to this surge.

Students leaders with the Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project helped drive this increase with an intense young voter mobilization effort on local college campuses.  On 100 campuses in 17 states, the Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project combined old-fashioned pavement pounding with technology to reach the wired world of the young voter. Students on campuses across the country stormed dorms, invaded classrooms and even staged guerrilla theater performances to urge young voters to the polls. They also employed a cadre of tech tools - from Facebook to ‘text out the vote’ tables to urge their friends to the polls.

“The youth vote surge since 2000 shows clearly – when you pay attention to young people, they pay attention to you,” concluded Jahagirdar.
 
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