Eight in Ten Young Voters in the 2008 Primaries Have Attended College |
Record numbers of young voters participated in the 2008 primaries, and those who have attended college or are attending college are much more likely to vote according to exit poll data from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Education.
While one-half of young Americans ages 18 to 29 have never enrolled in college, 79% of the voters in this age group on Super Tuesday had some college education, according to the Center's data. One in four of 18- to -29-year-olds with college experience voted, compared with one in fourteen 18- to 29-year-olds without college experience.
“The overall rise in young Americans voting this primary season has been remarkable, but it’s disproportionately well-educated young people,” said Peter Levine, director of the Center, in a news release. “Campaigns and interest groups mobilize youth on college campuses, but it’s harder to reach noncollege youth, whose membership in unions, religious congregations, and community groups has fallen since the 1970s. We need to find a way to counteract this inequality and motivate all
young people to vote so that their priorities and perspectives get attention. Research shows that schools can boost young people's participation by providing civic education in the form of social studies classes, service opportunities, discussions of current events and other activities.”
The exit polls revealed that young Democratic voters were the most racially and ethnically diverse voting bloc in the Super Tuesday primaries. The majority of voters ages 17-24 (53%) were non-white, with young Latinos making up the largest minority voting bloc (23%), reflecting a growing trend in the youth population, according to the Center. There were no Republican breakdowns of voters by race and ethnicity available in exit polls. In particular, young voters are shaping the Democratic Party’s race, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.