I remember when Jerry Rubin said “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Of course as all of us aged, that went out of fashion fairly quickly. But maybe we should all reconsider. Look at what Rolling Stone quotes from Rock the Vote:
The Youth Vote: Kingmakers in the Senate
“Young voters increased their turnout over 2002 and favored Democrats by large margins,” said Hans Riemer, Rock the Vote’s political director. “They played a major role in the Democratic victory.”
A sample of exit polling from close Senate races around the country shows that the youth vote was key to the Democratic victory.
US Senate 18-29 yrs
Dem. Rep.
Virginia 52% 48%
Rhode Island 65% 35%
Pennsylvania 68% 32%
Ohio 57% 43%
Missouri 49% 48%
Montana 56% 44%
Let’s give them a call-out and stop acting like we’re the only ones who care!
It made a huge difference on the state level too, and an ironic one!
Wisconsin had an anti-gay initiative on the ballot, and students at many of the UW System campuses registered to vote and voted in extremely high numbers, mostly to vote AGAINST the anti-gay initiative.
They also voted for Democrats, and were the margin of victory in 2 State Senate seats (resulting in a change to Democratic control of the Wisconsin State Senate) AND in 4 formerly-Republican-held State Assembly seats.
Unfortunately, their numbers weren’t quite enough to defeat the anti-gay ballot measure, but at least there’s a silver lining. I’m glad the anti-gay intititives are starting to backfire on the right wing!!!
It does appear though that these initiatives are losing a bit of an edge. We just have to keep pushing. I think sometimes they’re like a fever – you have to push to break that fever and they return to their senses. I think that’s true of the way people have responded to Bush altogther – we just have to keep pushing the aspirin.