Young voters are finally waking up to the fact that politics are important to
their lives. Their interest in the 2004 elections is sending a strong
message to politicians from both major parties that this important block
of voters can no longer be ignored if they want to be voted
into office.
Polling done by the Vanishing Voter Project in the week
before the March 2 Super Tuesday primaries found that nearly half of adults
between the ages of 18 and 30 said they had read, seen or heard an
election news story within the past day. In 2000, just over a third said that
was the case.
Compared with 2000, young adults were also more likely
to say they had talked about the campaign — by 39% to 29% — and were more
likely to say they had been thinking about the campaign — by 43% to 26% four
years ago. Nearly three in five of the young adults in the Vanishing
Voter poll said the election would have "a great deal" or "quite a bit"
of impact on the future of the country.
