E Pluribus Unum

Jason debunks a myth:

The days following the November 2nd election have been dominated by misleading stories in the media reporting that turnout among young voters did not reach “expectations” and that the “youth vote” was not a factor because Kerry lost.”

The spark that ignited this misinformation was a syndicated Associated Press story published on election night that claimed young voting turnout was “identical to 2000 and represented one in ten voters”. This was story based on exit polling taken earlier in that day and focused exclusively on the 18-24 set. It failed to take into account absentee voting, and confused young voters’ share of the electorate with their percentage of turnout.

According to an analysis of exit polls and early-vote tallies released on Wednesday by the Center for Information & Research on Civil Learning & Engagement, at the University of Maryland at College Park, at least 20.9 million people ages 18 to 29 voted on Tuesday, an increase of 28 percent, or 4.6 million, over 2000.

Turnout rose by 9.3 percentage points, to 51.6 percent from 42.3 percent four years ago. The previous peak came in 1992, when 47.9 percent of young Americans voted.

Young people voted at a much higher rate in contested, “battleground” states. In the ten most contested states, youth turnout was 64%, up 13 percentage points from 2000. In the battleground states, the youth share of the electorate was 19%. In the remaining 40 states and the District of Columbia, youth turnout was 47% and the youth share of the electorate was 18%.