Jules points to this article by Don Surber on that ever-elusive youth vote:
Young people don’t vote
At least not in mass quantities, which is why Republicans should not sweat losing the under 30 crowd today.
Marc Ambinder has a nifty chart. It shows that people 18-29 lean left not right in politics.
Duh.
Of the 18-29 group in 1992, 47% of this group leaned Republican and 46% leaned Democratic.
Today’s 18-29 group is split 33% Republican, 58% Democratic.
That’s nice.
But young people are a waste of time and energy when it comes to voting. They are not where the voters are.
That’s it. Like the four-decade succession of chicken-little-doom-and-gloom predictions, we’ve been hearing about this “youth vote” for decades now, and we have yet to see it.
In 1972, the “youth vote” was supposed to sweep McGovern into office. Uh, no.
In 1976, the “youth vote” didn’t materialize. It was the middle-aged and geezer vote (not to mention Watergate) that put Carter in the White House.
In 1980, the “youth vote” was supposed to re-elect Carter. We know how that turned out.
In 1984, the “youth vote” was supposed to bring us to a New Era with the bland and boring Walter Mondale in the Oval Office. Guess what happened instead.
In 1988, the “youth vote” was supposed to elect Michael Dukakis. I don’t think that’s what happened.
1992 and 1996? See 1976. Again, a phantom “youth vote.” And I probably don’t have to list the last two presidential elections, where again, there was no “youth vote” surge.
They have other things to worry about — like spring break and keggers. The “youth vote” is a whimsical, optimistic myth. It’s the people who aren’t pre-occupied with the latest fashions and where the parties are who decide elections. That would be the adults.
And thank God for that.
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I first saw that chart late last night and had a gloomier reaction. I’m glad you put it in perspective.
“In 1972, the “youth vote†was supposed to sweep McGovern into office.”
That’s funny. My dad told me when he was in college, he registered to vote that year with a lot of his friends to support McGovern. He told me that he saw so many people registering, he figured there would be a landslide in the election in November. Before he finished the story, I told him something like, “Well, there was, but not in the way you thought there would be.” :D
As for the youth vote, I wouldn’t ignore it completely as I’m apart of it. I’ve been voting in almost every possible election since I turned 18 in 2002. Of course, I’m an Independant that usually votes Republican, so there ya go.
I’m also not “pre-occupied with the latest fashions and where the parties are.” Somehow, and I mean no offense, I just don’t see a lot of my fellow college students following suit with that last part.
[…] I said before, the “youth vote” is at best elusive, if not illusory, and again, we’re being […]