This is not a big surprise...Youth Vote: Obama v. McCain

[baghdad_bush]

Youth Vote: Obama v. McCain
by Alexandra Lesser
Monday, July 28, 2008

As November rapidly approaches, Democrat Barack Obama seems to be the preferred candidate among young voters.

According to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll, 55% of voters between the ages of 18-34 favor Sen. Obama, while 31% favor Sen. McCain. As a young voter, ( I am a 20 year old Senior at Ohio Wesleyan University) I believe Sen. Obama just communicates better with my generation - with much more emotion and enthusiasm than Sen. McCain. This enthusiasm gap is shown in the polls as well; 14% of McCain voters, say that they are excited about their candidate. 44% of Obama voters say their excited about him. Why?

Many young voters talk about change and Sen. Obama seemingly offers just that. But for some his experience is lacking and that’s exactly where the 71 year old Senator McCain offers comfort.

McCain has admitted to not knowing how to use the internet nor does he use e-mail, which to me is shocker because my age group does EVERYTHING on the internet and you would think that a man with younger children he would be more computer literate than most people his age.

While McCain maybe divided from the younger generation he’s not giving up on their votes. According to a reporter from The Boston Globe, “The campaign says it will drastically improve its website’s social networking capacities well before college classes resume in the fall and the post-Labor Day sprint begins. The campaign now has youth chairs in 30 states, including all battleground states, and last week, it held a series of conference calls with young adult leaders across the country to begin organizing its volunteer groups. Many of those involved are already members of the College Republicans and other established groups, and many are already independently using social networking sites such as Facebook to communicate with each other and grow their ranks.”

With only four months left until the general election is this enough time to close the 13 point youth vote difference between the two candidates? Even Justin York, a 20-year-old republican told The Boston Globe, “My concern is that if the Republican Party doesn’t get creative, we will lose an entire generation of young people to the Democratic Party.” I think whether Obama sweeps the youth vote or McCain is able to cut deep into that 13 point deficit come November the youth vote numbers will be staggering.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/28/youth-vote-obama-v-mccain/

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Now if they will actually get out to vote on Nov. 4th we'll have something.

If not, say hello to President McCain.

[pegleg]

2. Traditionally, there's a lot of talk and little voting from youths but

I think this time will be different. There hasn't been anyone like Obama for a long tIme

[Lisa0825]

4. It was different in the primaries than in the past.

I hope they continue to be involved.

The Texas convention was packed with young people and other 1st time delegates.

[greyl]

5. The opportunity to vote for the first black POTUS will be a huge draw. nt

[AtomicKitten]

3. not surprising but nice to hear nonetheless

thanks for posting and welcome to DU

[CK_John]

6. The youth are ready to vote but have they secured their passage to the ballot box. Many youth feel

it is just a matter of showing up in Nov. The GOP have set out to stop this vote by throwing as many roadblocks to registration as possible.

College students are a easy mark because in many states they do not want them to effect local elections and challenge their residency. Many will need to register at their home precinct and not their college precinct. The rules vary greatly from state to state and this gives the GOP the opportunity to give out false or misleading info and create a sever roadblock.

Things like driver lic differing from living address, etc. False registration drives at campus events that are never turned into the proper office for official registration. Lack of official id. Not knowing the dates for registration their state or the deadline for mailing absentee ballots.

Student followup on your registration.