Young Voters Skyrocketed for Obama

On November 4th, an overwhelming amount of young voters flooded every polling station around the nation—a rare occurrence, according to researchers who study the voting behavior of young adults. As stated in the New York Times article entitled, “Youth Turnout Up By 2 Million From 2004,” the surprising skyrocketing of young voters only occurred once in history—on November 1972, when the permitted voting age was lowered from twenty-one to eighteen. Michael Falcone, author of the article, also pointed out how the tremendous quantity of young voters played a massive role in the victory of President-elect Obama.

             The Center of Information and Research of Civic Learning and Engagement, or Circle, announced on November 5 that the number of young Americans who cast a ballot increased from the last election by a great percentage. Between 21.6 and 23.9 million Americans in the age bracket of eighteen to twenty-nine voted this election in contrast to 2004 turnout—19.4 million. In addition, a virtual ticker on Facebook—a popular networking site—tallied the number of users who said they cast a ballot to more than one million by noon of November 4; and as polls closed across the nation, the tally exceeded to five million.

            Peter Levine, the director of Circle, stated that sixty-six percent of young voters supported Mr. Obama, while thirty-one percent preferred Mr. McCain. He these overwhelming amounts of young voters who supported Obama made a massive factor in the victory of Democrat party not only in the Presidential election but also in Senate and Governor positions. Young voters were not only the “cheerleaders” of Obama’s candidature, but also the backbone of it since many volunteered to campaign for him on their home towns and college campuses throughout the nation for the preceding twenty-one months. In addition, Mr. Levine stated that it would have been a much closer election if voting age was raised to twenty-one.