The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, the Tufts University project that tracks and analyzes the youth vote, and the Generational Alliance have fine-tuned their initial analysis of how Americans under 29 voted in the recent election. Basing their evaluation on the National Exit Poll by Edison Research, the two groups found that young voters were more ethnically and racially diverse than the electorate overall, and that the majority of them, in contrast to older voters, approved of President Obama and voted for Democrats. The percentage of eligible young voters who turned out was roughly in line with midterm turnouts for this age group in the past 20 years, but significantly lower than in midterm elections from 1974-1990.
An estimated 20.9 percent of all eligible young people ages 18-29 voted in the 2010 midterms. Younger voters chose Democratic House candidates over Republican House candidates by a margin of 57%-40%. By a 60%-40% margin, younger voters approved of Barack Obama’s handling of his job as president. By a 55%- 41% margin, they said that his policies will help the country in the long run. In contrast, a 54%-45% majority of all voters disapproved of the president and a 52%-44% majority of all voters said his policies will hurt the country.
Among other findings:
• Young people who have never attended college - about half the under-29 population - were about half as likely to vote as those who are attending college or have already done so.
• Voters under 29 were 66 percent white, 14 percent black, 15 percent Latino, 3 percent Asian, and 2 percent “all others,” including American Indians. Voters 30 and older were 80 percent white, 10 percent black, 7 percent Latino, 1 percent Asian, and 2 percent “all others.” Seven percent of younger voters said they were gay, lesbian, or bisexual, compared to 4 percent of all voters.
• 48% of young white voters said Congress should focus on reducing the budget deficit, compared to 39%
of the entire young voter population.
• Young black voters, who, with an 18 percent turnout in 2008, voted out of proportion to their overall numbers among young voters that year, dropped to 14 percent turnout in 2010. That's their percentage of young voters as a whole. On the other hand, young Latino voters have lagged somewhat behind the overall youth vote in the past. But this year their 15 percent turnout was slightly more than their percentage of younger voters overall.
• Nearly 30 percent of young black and Latino voters labeled themselves as "liberal Democrats." Only 20 percent of young white voters did so. Young whites were more likely to support the Tea Party (33 percent) than young blacks (15 percent) and Latinos (16 percent).
• Young people of color were more likely to face obstacles to voting because they are disfranchised by a higher rate of felony convictions than their young white counterparts. They are also more likely to be challenged at the polls.
In a press release, Kierra Johnson, executive director of Choice USA, said: “Crucial investments need to be made in these communities. The voices of these communities need to be recognized by the progressive movement and decision-makers so our political power can be fully maximized on and it has to happen now- not next year, or in 2012, but now.”
Exactly right. Getting a larger portion of young Americans to the polls requires not just focusing on get-out-the-vote efforts when elections are near, but rather paying attention to the specific needs and problems of youth, especially those who don't make it to college, between elections. That, of course, can be said for the entire population.