New Voters Project: College Vote Up 157% At Precincts Heavily Campaigned

[Dems Will Win]

Not only did youth 18-29 go from 55-44 Democrat to 60-38 Democrat, and the total turnout rise from 20% to 24% for youth but at the college precincts where NVP and others campaigned, the raw numbers were up an average of 157%!!

This bodes well for the Dems for '08, as the new generation, the Millennials, are far more activist and Democratic than the old Generation X. This upsurge in the Dem vote tanslates to about 4 to 6 million extra Dem votes for '08 over '04, maybe more if Edwards or Obama are the candidate.

The 2006 analysis focused on a set of 36 precincts in Ohio, Connecticut, Iowa, Colorado and Michigan. The precincts all contained a relatively high concentration of college students, and were located near universities where nonpartisan Get Out the Vote efforts were conducted by the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project and other partners. The analysis compared voter turnout numbers from the 2002 General Election with yesterday's turnout numbers. Average turnout in those precincts increased by 157% over 2002. This increase is six times the national average increase of ballots cast by youth adults (25%, according to an exit poll analysis conducted by CIRCLE). The complete chart of precincts studied is below.

Turnout in several of the precincts studied increased between three to five times. For example, turnout at Precinct 103 at the University of Colorado–Boulder increased threefold, while turnout at Precinct 1 at the University of Connecticut increased fivefold.

As election results continue to roll in this morning, even more examples abound of turnout skyrocketing. For example, all thirteen student-heavy wards at the University of Wisconsin Madison posted increases, with turnout at three wards (42, 46, 60) doubling.


The Student PIRGs’ New Voters Project ran the nation’s largest nonpartisan youth voter mobilization campaign in a midterm election this fall, working on over 80 college campuses in 25 states to register and turnout young people to vote. Over 75,000 students registered to vote with the Student PIRGs this fall, and as of last night, student PIRG volunteers contacted 94,593 people to remind them to vote— 53,000 in the last two days. Students engaged in old fashioned shoe leather and clever visibility tactics to turn out the vote.

“These numbers demonstrate conclusively that when you run a traditional campaign targeted at young people, they will turnout in huge numbers. Politicians are well served to pay attention to young people in future elections,” said Dave Rosenfeld, Program Director for the Student PIRGs.


State
University
Precinct #
County
Total number of votes cast in 2002
Total number of votes cast in 2006
Percent increase over 2002

CO
UNC
315 & 329 (used to be one precinct in 2002)
Weld
244
780
219.67%

CO
University of Colorado Boulder
102
Boulder
169
470
178.11%

CO
University of Colorado Boulder
103
Boulder
72
240
233.33%

CO
University of Colorado Boulder
118
Boulder
51
280
449.02%

CT
University of Connecticut
1
Mansfield
129
902
599.22%

Iowa
Iowa State U
Ames 2-2
Story
374
390
4.28%

Iowa
Iowa State U
Ames 4-3
Story
260
310
19.23%

Iowa
Iowa State U
Ames 4-4
Story
237
209
-11.81%

Ohio
Ohio State U
16A
Franklin
207
296
43.00%

Ohio
Ohio State U
16B
Franklin
252
287
13.89%

Ohio
Ohio State U
39A
Franklin
180
379
110.56%

Ohio
Ohio State U
40B
Franklin
175
327
86.86%

Ohio
Ohio State U
41A
Franklin
103
176
70.87%

Ohio
Ohio State U
41B
Franklin
182
286
57.14%

Ohio
Ohio State U
41C
Franklin
89
173
94.38%

Ohio
Ohio State U
41D
Franklin
104
110
5.77%

Ohio
Ohio State U
41E
Franklin
110
218
98.18%

Ohio
Ohio State U
16C
Franklin
197
305
54.82%

Ohio
Ohio State U
16D
Franklin
141
150
6.38%

Ohio
Ohio State U
16E
Franklin
133
142
6.77%

Ohio
Ohio State U
18A
Franklin
316
392
24.05%

Ohio
Ohio State U
18C
Franklin
379
671
77.04%

MI
University of Michigan
2-2
University of Michigan
364
761
109.07%

MI
University of Michigan
1-7
University of Michigan
230
604
162.61%

MI
University of Michigan
4-1
University of Michigan
241
550
128.22%

MI
University of Michigan
1-1
University of Michigan
267
513
92.13%

MI
University of Michigan
3-1
University of Michigan
310
511
64.84%

MI
University of Michigan
1-2
University of Michigan
129
306
137.21%

Average Percent Increase
156.94

http://www.newvotersproject.org/new-voters-project-posts

Which College Precinct near you can you work on for '08? The secret was youth campaigning to youth. Please remember to recommend to get the good word out.

[Dems Will Win]

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