Youth 1 of 5 Major Groups this Election

According to a US News and World Report Wednesday young voters are one of the five voting groups to watch this election cycle.

"The only problem is that voting—or failing to vote—has always been the issue when it comes to youth. Since 1972, the first election in which 18-to-20-year-olds were eligible to vote, turnout among the under-30 crowd has steadily declined. In 2004, this trend seemed to turn around as the number of young voters increased. Get-out-the-vote organizations touted the fact that there were 4.2 million more voters under 30 than there were in 2000.

This year, there's perhaps even more hype surrounding the youth vote, and it could actually be warranted. Primary turnout among young people doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled in many states, compared with primaries in 2000 and 2004, according to Rock the Vote, a youth-oriented voter registration group that often partners with entertainment companies. In some communities, more young voters are registering, and anecdotal reports suggest more young people are volunteering for the campaigns as well. "You don't write off anyone," says Matt Segal, the executive director of SAVE, who encourages both of the candidates to ramp up their efforts to attract the youth vote. "Young voters are susceptible to the politicians who reach out to them." A swing state like Wisconsin might go to Obama if young people turn out in large numbers, as some suggest they will. If they're right, that really would be a change."

Other groups, not surprisingly include women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Evangelicals. All groups we like to talk about here on FM because all of them can also fall within the group of young people.

Women are always targets, call them soccer moms, security moms, or the recent revelation about single women, women are more than half of the population. A good friend said it best, "Piss off a man, he just ain't gonna vote for you. But you piss off a women not only is she not gonna vote for ya, her husband ain't, her kids ain't, her friends ain't, and everyone at the beauty shop sure as hell ain't. Women are powerful."

Ok, antidotes aside, African Americans are energized by issues and certainly by the fact that the first African American in the general election is on the ballot. AA's also more inclined to be younger.

Average age of Latinos is also younger and there is a pretty good broadband penetration rate for their demographic.

Evangelicals, tend to be older, of course, but young evangelicals are a voting bloc as we've seen that tend to be more interested in Obama's message. His campaign is ready to go after them, and while the whole of the demographic might not go for him, young evangelicals might.

So, of these 5 demographics I think its fair to say that 4 of the 5 include young people or include youth elements to them. And with young evangelicals I'd say that makes up 4.5 of the top 5 voting groups to watch that have a youth component to them.