Youth Vote 2012 Turnout: Exit Polls Show Greater Share Of Electorate Than In 2008

[cal04]

Young voters represented a greater share of the national electorate Tuesday than four years ago, once again voting for President Barack Obama by a huge margin, boosting his reelection.

Voters from ages 18 to 29 represented 19 percent of all those who voted on Tuesday, according to the early National Exit Poll conducted by Edison Research. That's an increase of one percentage point from 2008. Obama captured 60 percent youth vote, compared with Mitt Romney's 36 percent.

(snip)
"The role young people would play during this election has been a major question in American politics for over a year, and it seems the answer is that they have been as big a force at the polls in 2012 as in 2008," said Peter Levine, director of the youth research organization CIRCLE at Tufts University. "They again supported President Obama, although not as lopsidedly as in 2008. Until tomorrow, it will be unclear whether youth turnout -- or the turnout of any group -- rose or fell, but young people were proportionately well represented in the 2012 electorate."

(snip)
"Tonight's results hopefully put an end to the accusation of a so called 'enthusiasm gap,'" Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, said in a statement Tuesday night. "This proves that any campaign that ignores young voters does so at its own peril."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/youth-vote-2012-turnout-exit-polls_n_2086092.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[lalalu]

1. But Romney had Kid Rock.