Friday, June 06, 2008

Why Obama Matters: Young Voters

"Get 'em while they're young" is the key to making real political change in America. People tend to form their political identities based on the first couple of elections they participate in. Take a look at the chart below, it shows the big reason Obama has so much potential to move this country in the right direction.

2 comments:

John445 said...

Are there enough 18 - 29 year olds to make up the difference?

Russell said...

Yup. 18 to 29 year old voters will make up between 12 and 15% of the electorate this fall. Their turnout has been increasing since 2000, although it's still lower than older voters.

Take a look at this post I wrote a while back:

Turnout vs. Age: Who's gonna vote on November 7th?

But what's even more important than the effect young voters will have on this election is that getting them involved now pays political dividends for the rest of their lives. It's the best long-term investment the Democratic Party can make.