Goodbye Republican Reign, Hello Young Democrat Revolution
Conventional wisdom is that young people don’t vote. Young people once again proved that to be 100% wrong. Young people showed up strong for Democrats all across the United States and proved to be the winning difference for Democrats.
Young people, ages 18-29, increased their turnout to 24%, up from 21% in 2002. Young people also increased their share of the overall electorate to 13%, up from 11% in 2002. In states like MT, it was as high as 17%. Additionally, according to CNN exit polls, young people voted for Democrats with an impressive 22 point margin (60% Democrat, 38% Republican). The next best age group gave Democrats only an 8 point advantage.
Chris Gallaway, YDA President said, “Young people made it crystal clear; we are unhappy with the Republican leadership and when programs are targeted at turning us out to vote, we are the winning difference for Democrats.”
The Young Democrats of America (YDA) continued their peer-to-peer field program, called the Alliance this year in 6 states (AR, AZ, CA, GA, PA, TN). YDA created the Alliance in 2004 to change business as usual in the youth voting community. For years organizations and campaigns used young people as the door knockers and were skipping the houses where young people lived. Candidate’s rationale was based on the convention wisdom that young people do not vote which translated into young people being left out of the political debate and traditional campaign outreach activities like getting their door knocked on or receiving a phone call about issues they care about.
The 2004 Presidential election and the 2005 Virginia Gubernatorial election changed all of that and proved that young people vote when asked. In the areas that YDA ran an Alliance program, youth voting increased on average 12%. In the coming weeks we will have turnout rates for the areas targeted by YDA during the 2006 elections. Our initial feedback is that we convinced 77% of the over 60,000 young people we talked to during the election to vote Democratic.
Research tells us that if a person votes for a Party three times in a row, they become a Party voter for life. Young people voted for Democrats in 2004 and now in 2006. 2008 is a call to YDA and candidates to target and turn out young people once again in order to build a solid bloc of young Democratic voters for years to come.
With the war in Iraq, increasing costs of college and student loans as well as the crippling personal debt that looms over Generation X and the Millennial Generation’s heads, young people have a lot at stake. Jane Fleming, YDA’s Executive Director stated, “voting in this election was a way for young people to make sure their interests are being protected, their voices heard and their votes counted. Our message to candidates and to the larger Democratic family is to talk to young people about the issues we care about and ask for our vote. You will get it and you will win.”
FURTHER INFORMATION:
YDA has a list of spokespeople from allied youth organizations and states where we ran a field program for reporters.
The Young Democrats of America (YDA) is a youth-led political organization that mobilizes young people under the age of 36 to participate in the electoral process, influence the ideals of the Democratic Party and develop the skills of the youth generation to serve as leaders at the local and national level. YDA has 43 chartered states and US territories and over 1,500 local chapters. Our membership—including middle school, high school and college students as well as young workers, young professionals and young families—reflects the broad diversity of our nation and the Democratic Party. YDA has been the official youth arm of the Democratic Party since 1932.
YOUTH VOTE 2006 FACTS:
10 million young people, 18-29, voted in the 2006 elections. This is an increase of 2 million young people from the 2002 elections. This number will rise once absentee ballots, provisional ballots and other precincts give their final numbers.
24% of young people voted in the 2006 election cycle, which is a 4% increase over 2002. This number is also preliminary number and will increase once final numbers are in.
18-29 year olds voted Democratic by a 22 point margin, the next best age groups was an 8 point advantage, continuing a trend from 2004 (18-29 year olds voted 60% Democrats and 38% Republicans versus older populations voted 51% Democrat and 47% Republican).
The share of the votes cast by young people (18-29) according to exit polls is up by 2 points, to 13%. This means young voters shattered turnout records. 2006 was a higher turnout election overall, and young people are actually a smaller portion of the population than in 2002, so increasing the share of the overall vote means the 2004 youth vote trend continues.
Young people went into the election voting for Democrats with a 2 to 1 margin and the majority of them identifying as Democrats for the first time in years.
Research tells us that if a person votes for a Party three times in a row, they become a Party voter for life. Young people voted for Democrats in 2004 and now in 2006. 2008 is a call to YDA and candidates to target and turn out young people once again in order to build a solid bloc of young Democratic voters for years to come.
