The real story of the youth vote in the 2004 election
I just went to Google News and searched for “youth vote.” Here’s a nice sampling of these gorgeously consistent headlines:
- “Youth vote is sign of hope for the future”
- “What Happened To The Youth Vote?”
- “Turnout delusions”
- “Youth Vote in Record Numbers”
- “Youth vote disappoints”
- “Youth came through with big turnout”
- “Young voters preferred Kerry, but turnout wasn’t high”
Hmm. A bit confused? What’s the real story here? We were spoonfed a ton of hype and ridiculous marketing about the impact of the youth vote on this election. Did it matter? Did kids my age make a difference?
Well, as you might gather from the above headlines, it kinda depends on how you slice the cake. Since the mainstream media is basically incapable of explaining nuance, it’s up to me, your fearless blogger, to break it down. Let’s start with the positives for the youth vote:
- A record number of 18-29 year-olds put down the bong and got to the polls.
- An unusually high percentage of youths (”yutes,” anyone? My Cousin Vinny? nevermind) voted. In 2004, 51.6% voted, while 42.3% cast ballots in 2000.
Sounds good, right? Sounds like the stoner generation was effectively pushed to the polls by P. Diddy’s threat. (And they’d better be—Puffy packs heat… oh wait, that was just his bodyguard.) But then the picture gets a bit murkier:
- 60% of all eligible voters got to the polls on November 2nd, the highest proportion since 1968. Compared with the 51.6% of 18-29 year-olds, it looks like my peers are still slackers.
- Kerry took 54% of the youth vote, a six point increase over Gore’s 48% in 2004. That’s not exactly a grand slam, but it is the only age group that Kerry won.
Ultimately, the second paragraph of this article sums it up nicely:
In the end, huge numbers of young people voted Tuesday, although the record overall turnout meant that young voters’ percentage of the total number of ballots cast stayed the same as in the 2000 contest — about 18 percent.
Or, for the more partisan among you, sample Michelle Malkin’s take:
[C]onsider the fizzled youth vote: Fewer than 1 in 10 voters were 18 to 24, roughly the same proportion of the electorate as in 2000. The MTV vote windfall for Democrats failed to materialize even after Herculean efforts by Ramen noodle-wielding Michael Moore, Bush-bashing Eminem, scare-mongering Cameron Diaz, fist-pumping P. Diddy and “Vote or Die”-vamping Christina Aguilera. (Interestingly, exit polls showed “morals” was one of the top issues among the youth vote. Go figure that one out, Paris and Leonardo.)
Well, Puffy, maybe you should stick to producing and leave politics to the professionals? The kids at Auburn University seem to think so:
P. Diddy’s got a lot of people to kill.
The producer-turned-rapper turned-fashion designer-turned political activist formerly known as Sean Combs tried his darndest to get young people to vote.
He toured the country with a posse of performers, admonishing America?s youth to “Vote or Die.”
Apparently, the majority of potential voters under the age of 30 preferred to die rather than choose between George W. Bush or John Kerry, and who can blame them?