Bush, Kerry Use Draft to Target Youth Vote

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041019/ap_on_el_pr/draft_politics&cid=694&ncid=716

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The fact that both Bush and Kerry are on record opposing mandatory military service speaks volumes about the audience they're targeting with their dueling draft scares — young voters.


In an election where voter turnout is the great unknown, the voting rate and preferences of 18- to 30-year-olds may be the biggest wild card on Nov. 2.


"One of the things that have been puzzling us is how young voters will behave on Election Day," said Andrew Kohut, an independent pollster at the Pew Research Center. "They've been pretty volatile, sometimes strongly in Kerry's camp and other times driven back to Bush."


Young voters were evenly divided between Bush and Kerry in polling conducted this month by Ipsos-Public Affairs for Newsweek.com and The Associated Press. Among likely voters under age 30, Kerry led 52 percent to 42 percent.