The Youth Vote Turning Out for Obama

While MTV is not known for great political coverage and has been unsuccessful in its attempts at GOTV efforts, there is an interesting article on their site about Super Tuesday results and how the youth vote played a very, very important role. Especially for the inspirational Senator from Illinois.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1581027/20080206/id_0.jhtml

Young voters coming out in force, as shown by this quote from the article:

"According to the results of CNN's exit polls and tabulations from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, young voters turned out in record numbers in more than 20 states. In practically every state holding a primary or caucus Tuesday, youth turnout increased astronomically, doubling, tripling and even quadrupling the turnout in the 2000 and 2004 electoral seasons. "

And they are mostly doing it for Obama:

"CBS News reports that Illinois Senator Barack Obama owes much of his victories Tuesday to America's young voters. Nationwide, Obama netted 59 percent of voters under 30 years old, while New York Senator Hillary Clinton was supported by 38 percent. "

The youth voting movement has been building significantly over the last few election cycles and it looks like this year it is finally really coming to life. Youth turnout tripling in Georgia to help nominate Sen. Obama?? Amazing. And it is happening all over the country for the most part.

I've been to many, many speeches and talks from political leaders where they have been telling young people that we are "the leaders of tomorrow". You have seen this rhetoric shift slightly over the last year or so to "you are not the leaders of tomorrow, you are the leaders of TODAY!" Putting the fact that many young people are running for office across the nation aside, the first step to being the leaders of today is to make a significant impact on the political process...by voting. And that is most definitely happening today.

Karl