Mississippi Youth Voter Turnout More Than Triples

Washington, DC - 03/12/2008 - 14 percent of eligible Mississippi citizens under the age of 30 participated in last night’s primary, according to preliminary estimates by CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement). More than 13,000 young people participated in the Republican primary and 57,000 in the Democratic primary. (See Table 2.) The youth turnout rate in Mississippi more than tripled from 2000 rising from four percent to 14 percent.

The results from last night in Mississippi punctuate the findings of national focus groups that CIRCLE conducted last fall. The research showed that college students are deeply concerned about issues, involved personally as volunteers, and ready to consider voting. But they want political leaders to be positive, to address real problems, and to call on all Americans to be constructively involved.

"Young Americans have been turning out to vote at remarkable rates in these primaries. This reflects their deep concern about the critical issues at stake and the impact of this election on our country’s future,” said CIRCLE Director, Peter Levine. “Since 2000, young people have been volunteering at high rates and are becoming more interested in news and public affairs. Now they are ready to consider voting as a way of addressing major problems. The Millennials are beginning to make their distinctive and lasting mark on American politics."

Comparisons to other caucuses and primaries must be made with caution, because turnout is affected by the date of the primaries and by the nature of the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, which are different in every state. “Closed” primaries and caucuses tend to depress turnout since Independents cannot participate.

Because there is no actual count of the number of votes cast by young people in the Mississippi primaries, we can only estimate their level of participation. Our turnout estimates are based on early vote tallies reported by the media, the share of voters who are young calculated by the National Election Pool exit/entrance polls, and an estimate of the eligible voting population obtained from the Census Current Population Survey (CPS). The 2008 voter turnout rate may rise as more votes are tallied. (The early vote tally does not include such votes as absentee ballots and provisional ballots.) As a result, our 2008 turnout rate likely underestimates the level of participation in the 2008 Mississippi primaries.

To date, more than 5.5 million young people have participated in the 2008 primaries and caucuses. In the Democratic contest young people supported Obama. Exit poll results were not available for the Republican primary.

This increase in youth turnout in the early primary season continues a trend observed in other elections since 2000. In the 2006 congressional elections, the voter turnout rate among 18-to 29-year-olds increased by three percentage points compared to the previous congressional election of 2002. And in the 2004 presidential election, the national youth voter turnout rate rose 9 percentage points compared to 2000, reaching 49 percent. In 2004, under-30-year-olds were registered to vote at the highest rate in 30 years.

Definitions

Youth: For the purpose of the Mississippi primary, we define “youth” as citizens between the ages of 18 and 29 on March 11, 2008.
Number of youth who voted: An estimate of how many youth participated.
Youth share primary participants: An estimate of the number of young people who participated in the primaries as a percentage of the number of all people who participated in the primaries.
Youth turnout rate: An estimate of the number of young people who participated in the primaries as a percentage of the total number of young people who were eligible to participate in either primary.

The youth turnout rate is the best indicator of how young Americans are engaging in the political process. The other statistics—the sheer number of youth participants and the youth share of the electorate—can change because of factors unrelated to youth engagement.

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) promotes research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. Since 2001, CIRCLE has conducted, collected, and funded research on the civic and political participation of young Americans. CIRCLE is based in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, Carnegie Corporation of Texas and several other foundations.

Source: Pew

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