Newspapers and journalists everywhere agree, young voters are emerging everywhere. The number of college students and graduates alike are higher than ever. However, as Marisa Lagos of the San Francisco Chronicle notes, the "youth" category does not represent all of the interests of voters between the ages of 18 and 30. Those in and entering college are on average face "$20,000 in student loan debt and 25- to 34-year-olds have the second-highest rate of bankruptcy of any age group, according to statistics compiled by Rock the Vote, a nonprofit group that aims to engage youth in the political process" (Lagos). Economic and financial issues that the youth feel directly effect them are of the up-most importance. The exchange rate, taxes, financial support and social security are all on the minds of the educated youth. Youth today, though often inspired by or educated by their parent's voting practices, lack the party affiliations and loyalties of their baby-boomer parents.
According to a journal published by Jared Sagoff in January of 2006 through "The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement" (CIRCLE) the main issues for voters in 2004 were: Taxes, Education, Iraq, Terrorism, Economy/Jobs, Moral Values and Health care. Sagoff calculated and compared the importance of each issue for the entire voting population, voters aged 18-24 and voters 25+. For the youth category of 18-24, in 2004 Moral Values was ranked most important at 23% with Economy/Jobs following closely a 21%. If ranked in order of importance the issues would go from most to least important as follows: Moral values, economy/jobs, terrorism, Iraq, Taxes and Education tied and lastly health care. It is important to keep in mind that these numbers represent Sagoff's calculations based upon the National Exit Poll of 2004.
Further calculations by Sagoff show that in 2004, 67% young voters who highlighted Economy/Jobs as being important voted for John Kerry. Similarly for those who found the war in Iraq to be important 68% voted for Kerry while 32% voted for Bush. Finally when it came to moral values 69% of youth who felt strongly about Moral Values as a campaign issue voted for President Bush.
Though it is no longer 2004, and now in 2008 new developments in the war in Iraq and thus changes in economic growth have changed many party affiliations and voting decisions, these 2004 numbers are still important in the youth vote. It is important to remember that the majority of young voters are college educated and thus it is the interest of the college students that is being represented in the youth vote. So while many are concenred with legislation and issues effecting their future economic security, few are focused on the issues effecting most working Americans (for few believe themselves to become a part of the labor community). As well, youth voters who find themselves on college campuses find themselves subject to some of the most liberal environments in the United States. On the University of Washington campus for instance, very little conversation centers around Republican candidates as the main focus goes towards whether or not the Democratic party should vote for Obama or Clinton. At the University of Washington there are a few groups of high educated and motivated students that focus on labor issues, right now mainly free trade coffee and the garment industry. Both industries that have few workers within the United States. But outside of these small groups, its seems unlikely that most young voters are aware of labor parties, movements or political issues.
At this time, the war in Iraq and the economy and how both will effect the average college graduate are what sways the youth vote. Many young college women see Hillary and see the woman they have always been told they could be. Obama has increased the participation of non-college bound youth, for he represents the strength of minority voters. Many young voters, though educated, refrain from educating themselves on the backgrounds of the candidates. Many democrats criticize Hillary's initial support for the Iraq war and simply support Obama for never supporting it. While a vital topic, perhaps further investigation on other platform topics is necessary. For instance Obama desires to raise taxes, presumably income taxes, on those citizens earning more than $97,000. Correctly, Hillary notes this will negatively effect some of her middle class supporters. However it only really seems to effect fire house captains working overtime and school administrators, hardly the bulk of middle America nor representing the median income in the United States.
Many more can be said about today's young voters. But I would like to end this blog by noting that most of the young voters, again disproportionately college students and college graduates say that they are voting in order to help and enable others less fortunate. Many sources and many of the journals on civilyouth.org mentioned this phenomena. As well, the way in which the youth expresses their political beliefs is mainly through donating to charities or through consumer power (buying or conversely not buying something because of the products political implications). To me this says that media efforts have proven successful to educate the youth about certain global realities. When it comes to consumer power I am sure young voters excerise this power mainly in relation to free trade goods and fair labor practices. Both have been highly publicized by both the media and interested organizations. To take it one step further I would say that any aggressive media campaign would help to educate students, for TV, radio, film and the classroom seem to be the main sources of political education.
