Youth Voter Registration Lowest in PA, Trouble for Obama?
Written by Brandon Henak on April 18, 2008 – 3:54 pm - Welcome, if you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to our email newsletter. Thanks for visiting!
Picked this tidbit up off the Hotline Blog:
“Since January, 218,923 new voters have registered. Of those, 152,775 registered Democratic and 40,195 registered Republican.
Also since January, 164,026 registered voters changed their affiliation to Democratic and 14,887 changed to Republican. (Pennsylvania’s voter registration form does not require the registrant to specify from which party they are changing.)
Geographically, the highest numbers of voter registration statistics came from Allegheny and Philadelphia counties; the lowest came from Forest and Cameron counties. By age group, the highest numbers of registered voters are between the ages of 45 and 54; the lowest are between 18 and 24 years old.”
This definitely doesn’t bode well for the youth-fueled Obama campaign. Take a look at the Texas exit polls:
Clinton Obama
18-29
16% 40% 59%
30-44
28% 44% 55%
45-59
34% 54% 44%
Student apathy is disappointing but, not surprising. I just don’t think the youth vote has been the game changer that the media has tried to sell it as.
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Tags: Barack Obama, Youth Vote
Posted in 2008 Election Coverage, US News and Liberal Debacles |
April 18th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Well, the thing that has happened though is a lot of the youth are college students who live in other states but go to school in PA. Those students all voted in earlier primary states, thinking that by the time PA rolled around, it wouldn’t matter. Who would have thought we would still be looking for a nominee? So they have voted, but just not in PA because they voted at home.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Brandon, come on. In nearly all primaries the voter registration for people under 30 is unbelievable. This country has never seen such youthful participation. Regardless, more than latte sipping, orange juice drinking, godless communists, muslim terrorists, anti-American Christians vote for Obama. The real information is in the shear massive number of newly registered Democrats compared to Republicans. Have you any thoughts on that?
April 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
richard martin,
What’s wrong with orange juice?
April 19th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Richard Martin-
Perhaps that’s because many of the new Democrats are actually Republicans that are taking advantage of open registration laws in PA to vote in the race that matters as opposed to sitting out.
And there are PLENTY of colleges in PA; Penn State alone has 40,000 plus students, for example. Factor in schools like Pitt, Temple, Villanova, LaSalle, Penn, Drexel, Duquesne, and the PSU sattelite campuses, you have LOTS and LOTS of students, and maybe 20% of them overall are out of state and could have voted earlier.
I know with McCain all but clinching the nomination, I registered and voted in the Dem primary in
I’m calling it right now. Hillary wins PA by 6 points. Not the margin she needs, but certainly with Obama’s gaffes, gives her a leg to stand on for staying in the race.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Well there is polling to suggest the opposite from CBS News.
Most students attending four-year colleges and universities in Pennsylvania are enthusiastic about voting in the presidential campaign, according to a poll conducted by CBS News and UWIRE, and Barack Obama is the overwhelming favorite among those who intend to vote in the Democratic primary.
Among Pennsylvania students who will vote or have voted in a Democratic primary in any state, Obama leads Hillary Rodham Clinton 71 percent to 28 percent, and among those who intend to vote in the Pennsylvania primary, Obama leads by a nearly identical margin of 71 percent to 29 percent. Support for Obama is consistent across types and sizes of schools.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:01 am
If the “yout’ vote” is significant in the general election, it will be a first.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“Obama leads Hillary Rodham Clinton 71 percent to 28 percent…”
And you completely missed the point of the post… everyone knows Obama cleans up with young voters. BUT, the young voters haven’t shown up in the numbers that would make a significant difference. I want to say the WI primary showed 18-30 year old turnout at somewhere around 25%. And that’s with an earlier, contested Democratic primary.
Counting on the youth vote is a gamble. Plain and simple.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
The orange juice comment was about how the media claimed Obama was elitist about his drinks. Most political figures drink coffee.
I hope Obama only loses by 6 in Pennsylvania, but I think 12 is more likely.
Just, once there is an opening for youth voting. I suspect that youth voting will be significant for the first time. Without the young vote, Obama would not be where he is. His campaign rests on the premise that young people do care about the world. However, it is one huge gamble that no one knows the full implications of.
I am 20 years old and have never cared a wit about politics until now. Why? Because this election defines what America represents. I hope young people fully appreciate what that means.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
“Because this election defines what America represents. I hope young people fully appreciate what that means.”
Wait. I thought that was the 2004 election as well….
You could say that about every Presidential election. Cliche crap that belongs in an Obama stump speech.