youth turnout

Its the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

"Voter excitement, always up before a presidential election, is pushing registration through the roof so far this year - with more than 3.5 million people rushing to join in the historic balloting, according to an Associated Press survey that offers the first national snapshot.

Figures are up for blacks, women and young people. Rural and city. South and North.

Overall, the AP found that nearly one in 65 adult Americans signed up to vote in just the first three months of the year. And in the 21 states that were able to provide comparable data, new registrations have soared about 64 percent from the same three months in the 2004 campaign."

That is only in 21 states we're comparing... can you imagine what its like for all 50 states?

Our good buddies at the DNC sent out a memo detailing the information as well as quoting pertinent stats

• "Turnout for voters 18-29 has increased dramatically-tripling or quadrupling in many states-this election season. So far, more than 5 million young voters have participated, with an overwhelming number going for Democrats-building on gains made among this key demographic in 2004 and 2006. [civicyouth.org]
• This trend can be seen in state after state. In Massachusetts, for instance, youth turnout doubled, with young people voting for Democrats over Republicans nearly 3- to-1. 168,863 young people voted for Democrats while only 62,159 voted for Republicans, nearly tripling the numbers from 2004 [55,367] and 2000 [45,722]. [civicyouth.org]
• Recent polls confirm these results. According to a Pew study released last month, 58 percent of voters under 30 now identify as Democrats or lean Democratic, while only 33 percent associate with Republicans. The gap is even greater for young female voters-63 percent to 28 percent. [Pew Study, released 4/28/08]"

And we still have several more months left to register more. This is a great motivator for all those orgs out there - and its a great fundraising tool for those working on young voter registration, GOTV, and doing youth specific organizing.

In the past the youth movement has had a lot of drop off to get funders to invest in the youth movement - ideally this will rejuvenate those past donors and encourage bringing about new ones.

Happy fundraising!