GOTV: Youthful Expression 2004

Encouraging 2004 youth voting numbers from Dave Rosenfeld, Program Director for PIRG's New Voters Project:

The youth vote was up 10.8 points over all to 48%, with 10.5 million votes cast - the best turnout since 1992!

But our work is definitely not done. The New Voters Project is gearing up to work on races in 2005 and 2006 - we'll be sending out regular updates on our work, including actions you can take now to ensure that we continue to be a powerful force in future elections.

Now... for some cold, hard numbers! We promised to keep you posted as local numbers roll in - check below for the first county-by-county information, hot off the presses from Iowa.

Linn County
2000 Results for 18-24: Registered 14,633; voted 6,504
(44 percent turnout)
2004 Results for 18-25: Registered 22,075; 14,203 voted
(64 percent turnout)

Dubuque County
2000 Results for 18-24: Registered 6,458; voted 2,564
(39 percent turnout)
2004 Results for 18-24: Registered 8,335; voted 4,797
(57 percent turnout)

Polk County
2000 Results for 18-24: Registered 25,742; voted 12,440
(48 percent turnout)
2004 Results for 18-24: Registered 33,081; voted 20,957
(63 percent turnout)

Johnson County
2000 Results for 18-24: Registered 16,715; voted 10,344
(62 percent turnout)
2004 Results for 18-24: Registered 23,244; voted 16,239
(70 percent turnout)

(Sources: Cedar Rapids Gazette)

UPDATE: Michael Agosta points to some other numbers to keep in mind and adds some commentary.

Linn County, where 18-24 old registered voters turned out at 64%:
65+: Turned out at 89% of registered
50-64: Turned out at 91%
25-34: Turned out at 73%
County: Turned out 82% of all registered voters.

Dubuque County, where 18-24 turned out at 57% of registered voters:
65+ turnout: 86%
50-64 turnout: 88%
25-34: 61%
Countywide turned out 77%.

Lesson, for my 2 cents, is the usual lesson: youth voting can be a good thing, but it's not a big piece of the pie, and young turnout is relative vis a vis turnout overall...

The GOP gets that better than we do: they are better about focusing on the slices of the pie that are likely to cast a ballot. So, if they can even steal 1% of our senior vote, it has a huge impact.