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In 2008, for the first time since 1972, a presidential candidate intrigued America’s youth and persuaded them to flock to the polls in record numbers. Barack Obama not only spoke to young people’s concerns but his campaign also connected with them via technology, wielding texts and tweets to bring together a new generation of voters ( [link] ).
The high level of interest Obama inspired among college-aged voters was a milestone in modern politics. Since the 1971 passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, voter turnout in the under-25 range has been low. While opposition to the Vietnam War and the military draft sent 50.9 percent of 21- to 24-year-old voters to the polls in 1964, after 1972, turnout in that same age group dropped to below 40 percent as youth became disenchanted with politics. In 2008, however, it briefly increased to 45 percent from only 32 percent in 2000. Yet, despite high interest in Obama’s candidacy in 2008, younger voters were less enchanted in 2012—only 38 percent showed up to vote that year.
Thom File, “Young-Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections 1964-2012,”
United States Census Bureau , P20-573, April 2014, https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p20-573.pdf.
What qualities should a presidential or congressional candidate show in order to get college students excited and voting? Why?
A citizen’s socioeconomic status—the combination of education, income, and social status—may also predict whether he or she will vote. Among those who have completed college, the 2012
voter turnout rate jumps to 75 percent of eligible voters, compared to about 52.6 percent for those who have completed only high school.
“Table 5. Reported Voting and Registration, by Age, Sex, and Educational Attainment: November 2012,” https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2012/tables.html (November 6, 2015). This is due in part to the powerful effect of education, one of the strongest predictors of voting turnout. Income also has a strong effect on the likelihood of voting. Citizens earning $100,000 to $149,999 a year are very likely to vote and 76.9 percent of them do, while only 50.4 percent of those who earn $15,000 to $19,999 vote.
“Table 7. Reported Voting and Registration of Family Members, by Age and Family Income: November 2012,” https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2012/tables.html (November 5, 2015). Once high income and college education are combined, the resulting high socioeconomic status strongly predicts the likelihood that a citizen will vote.
Race is also a factor. Caucasians turn out to vote in the highest numbers, with 63 percent of white citizens voting in 2012. In comparison, 62 percent of African Americans, 31.3 percent of Asian Americans, and 31.8 percent of Hispanic citizens voted in 2012. Voting turnout can increase or decrease based upon the political culture of a state, however. Hispanics, for example, often vote in higher numbers in states where there has historically been higher Hispanic involvement and representation, such as New Mexico, where 49 percent of Hispanic voters turned out in 2012.
“Table 4b. Reported Voting and Registration, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, for States: November 2012,” https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2012/tables.html (November 2, 2015). In 2016, while Donald Trump rode a wave of discontent among white voters to the presidency, the fact that Hillary Clinton nearly beat him has much to do with the record turnout of Latinos in response to numerous remarks on immigration that Trump made throughout his campaign. Record Latino turnouts were seen in many states, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, and North Carolina.
Steven Shepard. 6 November 2016. “Latino voting surge rattles Trump campaign,” http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/latino-vote-surge-donald-trump-campaign-230804 (November 9, 2016).
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