Since the general election in 1998, youth voters (18-34) in New Hampshire have been more active than their peers around the country. In fact, according to a recent study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), the youth turnout in New Hampshire reached an impressive 43% percent in 2008.
University of New Hampshire Political Science Professor Dante Scala tracks voting behavior, and has been watching the role young voters in New Hampshire, especially young conservatives, will play in the primary.
Professor Dante Scala: When I started teaching back in 2000, if you were young and conservative and a bit rebellious, you were probably looking at John McCain. He was seen back then as this maverick Republican who wanted to fight the establishment and so forth. Now, 12 years later, John McCain is supporting Mitt Romney who is an establishment figure, so if you’re young and conservative and rebellious, you’re likely now looking at Ron Paul as your candidate. It’s rather stunning that as clearly the oldest candidate (and he looks the oldest of the candidates), again and again (Ron Paul) appeals to the youngest voters. The younger you are in New Hampshire, if you’re going to vote in the Republican primaries, the more likely you are to vote for Ron Paul, but people Ron Paul’s own age are probably least likely.
DS:My sense from college students, (is that) their libertarianism does cross over to social issues and that’s especially true with the drug war, and that’s especially true with legalization of drugs. (For example) you find...younger evangelicals much less likely to be doctrinaire and opposed to say, gay marriage, as opposed to their parents and grandparents. For young people, being conservative today is more about liberty.Q:Is there anything else that you think is especially interesting...that young conservatives are looking for in your research?
DS:My overall sense is that young people are looking for....a much more bare bones type of conservatism. It doesn’t seem to be mixed up a lot with social conservatism. It doesn’t seem to be mixed up with national security issues. It’s more about libertarianism and creating some space for themselves, some liberty for themselves at home.
Professor Dante Scala was interviewed by Ike Sriskandarajah in New Hampshire. Find more of that interview below.
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To hear more about young conservatives from Youth Radio's Election Desk, check out our coverage from Iowa here.
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The youth turnout at the polls yesterday was... disappointing. That is if you were a Democrat banking on the youth vote. 18 - 29 year-olds did not show up for Democrats in the numbers the party leaders wanted.
In 2008, young people came out to vote in higher numbers than ever before. President Obama’s message of hope and change succeeded in reaching 18 - 29-year-olds in 2008, as did his modern, digital campaign strategies. So why didn’t those voters turn up in the same size force yesterday?
For instance, why didn’t the young people who supported California’s Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana show up to vote for it?
An article from the Washington Square News made the point that presidential elections are just more exciting. Students were quoted saying that presidential elections are big and glamorous, whereas there is no central figure in midterm elections to generate excitement. Students suggested that voting is very connected to the faces behind the names, saying that voting for President Obama was making history, but voting for “two grey haired senators” was not as sexy.
However, a study conducted by the Harvard University Institute of Politics (IOP) said that the youth energy glimpsed in the 2008 election is something definite. According to the study, since Sept. 11 there has been a, “political and civic re-awakening among this generation, which we call Millenials.” Michael Hurta, president of the University Democrats at University of Texas told Fox News that numbers at the polls at his University were still higher than in 2006.
Just because youth didn’t stampede the polls yesterday, doesn’t mean that the election issues aren’t relevant to the Millenials. The Harvard University IOP conducted a survey in the spring of 2010 which found, “Given the state of the economy, nearly half of college students today question their ability to stay in school. Almost half of all four-year undergraduates (45%) and nearly two-thirds of community college students (64%) are concerned about staying in college.”
The IOP also found in a poll that young Republicans showed more enthusiasm for participating in yesterday’s elections than young Democrats with, “41% of Republicans planning on voting, compared to 35% of Democrats and 13% of Independents.”
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By: Karen Hu
Trying to legalize Gay marriage has been a continous war for quite a while now. Recently, California has overturned Prop 8 which means it will be on the ballet for people to vote. For those who want gay marriage to be legalized, this overturning on prop 8 is just one step closer to doing so.
Everyone has different opinions on gay marriage. There are a lot of people who do not agree to it, but a good portion of people do agree. I for one, agree to gay marriage. I don't see anything wrong with it and I think it's perfectly fine for a man and man or a woman and woman to get marry. The reason why people get married is because they love each other, so does it matter if it's the same sex or opposite sex? No, I believe it doesn't. As long as they love each other, that's enough and they should be allowed to marry.
16 year old Shawnanis McCune agrees to gay marriage as well. "I believe that love isn't just for male and female, People deserve to love who they want to. Just because you fall for someone who's the same sex as you, It doesn't mean that it's wrong." She believes that everyone deserves to marry whoever they're in love with. McCune also believes there isn't anything "wrong" it same sex marriages. "I think it's wrong, to be called wrong or bad for being who you are."
There are different reasons on why people think that gay marriage is wrong. "Religious reasons mostly. It's something they're not used to. They feel that it'll influence other people into thinking that it's okay, Like their children." said 20 year old Sharon Truong. She feels that marriage is marriage, "I feel the same way about it as straight marriage. It's just marriage."
We're all equal, aren't we? We should all be treated the same. We're all the same in the first place anyway. People act like homosexauls arent people but another species or something. They're still people who have feelings and have a heart. So think about it, Is it really that wrong for homosexuals to get married? Is it really that wrong for two people, of the same sex who love each other, to get marry?
California teens offer their impressions of a state senator’s proposal to lower the voting age and offer fractional votes to 14-17 year olds.
I just celebrated my eighteenth birthday last week. I'm looking forward to more than just being able to go clubbing, buy cigarettes, and try my luck at lotto tickets. I can't wait to vote. And although that this is something I have been anticipating since middle school, I'm starting to get some cold feet.
Not only am I confused about what party to register with or how to vote on key issues, but I'm also uncertain about how to even go about registering. So to try to clear things up and make the process easier, I've put together a list of top five questions to think about when you're voting for the first time.
1. Whose side am I on?
I'm not sure which party to register with. Should I go ideological or practical? I am a fierce environmentalist but even I am not sure if I want to register as Green Party. It seems a lot more realistic to register as a Democrat because it is part of the two party system and is usually for environmental legislation, as opposed to Republicans. I’ll probably end up going for the more pragmatic solution to this problem, but I find it sad that third parties will probably never have a chance in this country.
2. Is this my Grandmother's Ballot?
Studies show, including The American Political Science Review’s article “The Influence of Parents on the Political Attitudes of Adolescents” that parents’ political views have a severe impact on children, and are likely to carry over into the child’s own views.
When I discuss any kind of politics with my friends, I think twice about if the opinions they voice or their own or if they are just repeating what their parents said at the dinner table. I know few young Democrats with Republican parents, and vise versa. I hope that everything I think isn’t just a direct copy of what my parents told me to think. I’ll have to disassociate from their views and think about my own if I don't want to be a regurgitating copy-cat.
read the rest of list after the jump
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by Mark Anthony Waters
Today I voted for the first time. I’ve been waiting for this day since Bush got elected in 2000. And as soon as I heard a black man was running for President, I started imagining the chaotic scene at the voting booth.
I pictured extremely long lines filled with people from around my neighborhood and schools I’ve gone to, with all their friends and families acting up and talking loud about how a change is overdue.
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His dad Ronny McFarland does social work as a case manager for the city of San Francisco.
As a black man of 58, Ronny was part of the Civil Rights movement, hoping one day he’d see black homeowners in upscale neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now he’s waiting eagerly to see whether America will elect Barack Obama.
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Craig Ferguson was mad, pacing back and forth across his late night T.V. stage stopping occasionally to high five the camera as he ripped into the American people; youth in particular. To be fair, he had given his viewers fair warning at the beginning of his show. As a new American citizen voting for the first time in this election, Ferguson is baffled by what he perceives as rampant apathy among American voters Read more...
