Youth Vote Important In '06
This column was written by Sam Graham-Felsen.
Young people are sick, sick, sick of the GOP — and it's for plenty of reasons other than the rapidly unfolding Foley-Hastert scandal.
A September Tarrance-Lake poll commissioned by Young Voter Strategies found that 61 percent of 18-30 year olds have favorable views of the Democratic Party compared to 38 percent for the Republican Party. Why? Because on their top three issues — college affordability, jobs and the economy, and Iraq — young people think the Democrats would do a much better job. See the details of the report here.
Meanwhile, on the social networking site Facebook, young people can now declare their support for a candidate on that candidate's Facebook profile (every candidate has an official Facebook profile). Here are some of the numbers from Facebook's unscientific Election Pulse:
Ohio:
Sherrod Brown (DEM) 68.16 percent
Mike Dewine (REP) 31.84 percent
Pennsylvania:
Bob Casey (DEM) 57.83 percent
Rick Santorum (REP) 38.14 percent
Tennessee:
Harold Ford Jr. (DEM) 70.74 percent
Robert Corker Jr. (REP) 28.64 percent
Virginia:
James Webb Jr (DEM) 55.34 percent
George Allen (REP) 43.61 percent
Montana:
Jon Tester (DEM) 81.77 percent
Conrad Burns (REP) 16.29 percent
Young people were considered a swing vote in 2004, but those days seem to be over. Numbers like these indicate that if young people turn out like they did two years ago, they could provide a critical boost to the Democrats.
By Sam Graham-Felsen
Reprinted with permission from The Nation