NBC News Exit polls are showing young ppl 18-29 aren't voting

[iluvtennis]

Shannon Pettypiece@spettypi·12m
Breaking news: young people still don't vote. In NBC News exit poll, 13 percent of voters were between 18-29

Link to tweet

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Hoping that they casted early votes. We really need the young bloods to start voting consistently as us old school folks are on the downside of our bell shaped curves.

postscript: What wasn't clear from NBC news is, was this across all 14 states voting today or is it isolated. nt

[beachbumbob]

1. if this is the case, I see no "excitement" of the young for any of "their" candidates right?

[Yeehah]

75. You think this is good news?

Damn.

[Walleye]

2. Not surprised.

[dumptrump1]

3. I think they usually vote later.

Fingers crossed it changes.

[bearsfootball516]

4. Historically speaking, they don't vote at all.

I don't know what needs to happen to change that.

[dumptrump1]

6. ....

Me neither

[Loki Liesmith]

31. They need to get older.

That’s what changes it.


Of course it also changes their politics.

[DBoon]

43. revival of military conscription?

Not something I advocate, but would definitely force the issue

[Newest Reality]

78. Maybe...

Transform all Starbucks into polling places on election day and you get one free beverage for voting?

Oh, is that coffee pandering? That would probably stir up froth in the political arena and leave some stains.

[bdamomma]

81. They need

to put their phones down. They will come around.

[Blue_true]

45. If my nieces are models, the young vote last minute, if they vote at all. nt

[Generic Brad]

73. Later like when they are over 50

[BlueIdaho]

5. Learning the same lesson

Over and over again. We need to find a more ch better way of getting younger voters to the polls.

[Blue_true]

46. Exactly WHAT can we do. Voting is a civic responsibility, if they don't see that,

nothing gets them to the polls.

[TheFarseer]

82. What if we got a famous rapper

Like maybe P Diddy and he had a catchy slogan like, I don’t know, maybe “vote or die”. Would that work?

[BlueIdaho]

83. I wish I knew...

For 31 years I taught at a community college. Each year I did all I could think of to make sure students were registered and come Election Day - voted. I even gave extra credit for any student who could show me their “I Voted” sticker. It never amounted to more than 5% of my students.

Regardless of who you support - having young people vote is a very good thing. I’m just at a loss as to how to get them to the polls.

[George II]

7. Just like the other states. I forget which of the previous four states but turnout was only 11%.

Meanwhile voter turnout over 65 has been in the vicinity of 30%+.

[honest.abe]

8. Sounds like bad news for Sanders.

That his best demographic. Not surprised. They show up for rally's but forget about voting.

[iluvtennis]

9. What wasn't clear from NBC news is was this across all 14 states voting today or is it isolated. nt

[Jarqui]

10. Could be that they have to come after class / work

If not, it is bad news for Bernie.

[MontanaMama]

11. My husband and I own two small businesses

that employ 8 people. If our employees don't vote by mail, we offer to pay their hourly wage for them to go vote. I even buy their lunch if they do it during work hours. All I need is their I Voted sticker as proof and a receipt for their lunch and I reimburse them. Our most recent hire is a 26 year old woman who isn't registered to vote and has never voted. She's from North Carolina. I brought her a voter registration form and encouraged her to fill it out. She said she'd think about it.....but didn't see the point...she said she would talk to her parents about it. I've talked myself blue trying to talk her into it. So frustrating.

[iluvtennis]

24. you and your hubby are good ppl the way you support your employees voting with time off.

Keep up the great support. And so sorry to hear about the 26-year old who can't even take the time to register to vote

[Hermit-The-Prog]

41. Good on you! Maybe show her the following:

[lunasun]

60. Or, if it too late for the primary then this !

[emmaverybo]

66. Terrific!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

69. That's terrifying.

[Cosmocat]

68. Jesus...

Thank you for REALLY trying.

[MontanaMama]

74. Yeah...she's not an overachiever my any means.

My husband hired her unilaterally without checking her references. Let’s just say it has been stressful. The fact that she is a nonvoter seals the deal for me. Hoping she moves on.

[coti]

12. I interpret this as just not caring that much WHO our candidate is- I expect they very much will

vote come November.

[NurseJackie]

13. There will be no "revolution".

I'm very much looking forward to hearing Bernie Sanders give his full-throated endorsement of Joe Biden and being a VERY visible part of encouraging his supporters to get on board the Biden Bandwagon so that we can defeat Trump and the GOP and Russia.

[DarthDem]

19. Me Too

From your keyboard . . .

[iluvtennis]

29. It won't be a full-throated endorsement. He will begrudgingly do it like he did for Hillary

[Lexblues]

14. Michael Moore...if you're listening

If there's a revolution out there for Sanders, then they'd be showing up voting and they're not! Sanders is doing well amongst traditional voters, but not drawing in new voters or non voters, which would mean a GE loss if he were nominated.

[Calculating]

15. Can you really blame them

All of the candidates are currently over 70. Not really exciting for the youth to go vote for seniors.

[beachbumbob]

21. many kids enjoy their grandparents though

[TwilightZone]

28. We've been hearing the promise of a wave of young voters from Sanders for five years.

What happened? I thought he excited them and his age was irrelevant?

[Blue_Tires]

36. Then they should have thrown their weight behind the younger candidates

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

79. Yes, I can really blame them. Voting isn't supposed to be entertainment.

Candidates are not obligated to excite young people who've been raised on 20-second videos and 140-word tweets so they have the attention spans of gerbils and expect to be given a thrill up their leg. It's their civic fucking duty as participating members of a democracy.

[SMC22307]

80. I rarely say this, but "can't rec this enough!"

Like Obama said, this isn't a reality show.

[treestar]

85. +1 million

I have been voting since age 21 and just don't even understand it.

[defacto7]

16. My 17yo voted for the first time this election.

He voted Warren!

[pampango]

17. A familiar story. Old people - like me - vote. Young people don't. Who gets more attention

from the government? Those who vote. And we should be the party of young people. The GOP's base is old and white.

[pstokely]

18. people that age don't have a heavy attachment to any political party

nt

[Sloumeau]

20. Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Many young people may have voted before today.
2. Many young people may vote later today.
3. Exit polls are just a sampling, and the sampling could be off.

That said, some numbers about young person voting rates from previous elections:
In 2016, the rate of your person vote overall was about the same:

2016: 13%

https://www.people-press.org/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/]

However, in the 2014 and 2018 midterms, the young person vote was much higher:

2014: 19.9%
2018: 35.6%

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/04/behind-2018-united-states-midterm-election-turnout.html]

Yes, that 2018 number was huge. Because Bernie Sanders does better with younger Americans, we can assume that the 2018 number would be great for Bernie, the 2014 number would be good for Bernie, and the 2016 number would be less than ideal for Bernie, but the day is not all in, the sampling may be off, and young people may have voted before today. Only when things are totaled will we really know for sure.

[RockRaven]

22. What percent of voters do they THINK that 18-29 year olds should be?

Serious question. It could not possibly be anything outside of the teens, given the number of voters in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60, 70s, and above.

This tweet is written like the author is conflating the statement "13% of voters were 18-29 year olds" with "13% of 18-29 year olds were voters"

[Moderateguy]

27. This is what I'm confused about....

[spooky3]

53. People 18-29 are about 23% of the 18+ (i.e., eligible to register to vote) population. nt

[budkin]

23. They'll vote in the general, I guarantee it.

Primaries are only for us die-hards usually.

[pstokely]

25. and they don't have a heavy attachment to any political party

they are more attracted to ideas or policies

[OnDoutside]

37. Lol ! The last high point of young people voting in a Presidential Election was ? ... drum roll..

the Dukakis/Bush race in 1988.

In the UK, the Brexiters talk about taking back control, which Remainers call a unicorn. That's what the Youth vote is, a unicorn, that never appears.

[FM123]

26. So, during the 2016 election I had three kids in college all at the same time...

one was living at home so she and I just carpooled to the polls - easy peasy. Not so easy with the other ones that were going to school out of state. It was like pulling teeth. We had to UPS them their mail in ballots, explain to them to duplicate their signatures exactly or it would be tossed, then remind them to actually snail mail them back asap all during midterm week with all kinds of tests and exams to study for. All of sudden I went from hands off mom, to the biggest nag in the world. Then the nailbiting began - every day we went online to check and make sure their ballots were officially received then counted. Whew. I wonder how many college kids with the best of intentions of voting end up having their ballots lost or tossed or just not mailed back in time...

[kentuck]

30. They really need to start voting...

...and stop whining about how the Boomers took everything away from them.

[OneBro]

32. Missing information.

Without knowing what percentage of the population is 18-29 years of age, how can anyone tell whether this is good or bad? For example, if 18-29 years olds represent 13% of the population, then saying 13% of the voters were 18-29 would be an excellent turnout for that age group.

Well, I googled it so you don't have to, and the result is that 18-29 years olds represent (drumroll please) . . . 16.5% of the US population. https://www.marketingcharts.com/featured-30401

Hmmm. They represent 16.5% of the population and a whopping 13% of the voters that came out. Seriously. Sounds pretty impressive if you ask me. By the way, I hate math.

Edited to fix a snafu.

[Mariana]

47. Who can be bothered with all that reading and math and stuff?

It's so much more fun to malign the young people, even if they have to lie in order to do it.

[TwilightZone]

55. That wouldn't work. People under 18 can't vote.

And lots of US residents can't vote. Well, 17-year-olds who are eligible and turn 18 by November can, but you get my point.

The 13% segment is out of the voting-eligible population, not the total population. So, for an accurate comparison, you'd need to know what percentage of the VEP they represent, which I'm not finding in a quick search. Millennials are about 27% of VEP, but the ages don't match up and that's a wider range, of course.

https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/an-early-look-at-the-2020-electorate/

[OneBro]

77. Thanks. Excellent point.

I'm still curious as to how the 18-29 demographic compares to other voting groups. Also, I suspect there's a big difference between the 18-21 group and the 27-29 group.

Personally, I can't wrap my head around ANY sane person not voting when they can do so. I just don't get it.

[Efilroft Sul]

33. My friend in Virginia Beach said turnout there was pathetically low, no matter the voters' ages.

I wonder if any journalists are asking if turnout this Super Tuesday has been adversely affected by coronavirus fears.

[evertonfc]

34. that's not news

most of my son's friends. ( he's 18) don't know how to register, don't know the candidates and didnt know today was primary

[Pacifist Patriot]

49. That blows my mind.

I have three boys, two of voting age. They and all their friends preregistered to vote at 16 when they got their drivers licenses, watch the debates and group text each other during them, ask me questions about politics when we cross paths, etc.

My youngest sons' friends are a different story. I'd say about half are what you describe. The other half are shockingly politically aware. I'm constantly amazed at how much these teenagers are paying attention. My friends sure didn't at their age! I was definitely an anomaly back then.

[underpants]

35. Kaiser foundation says 19-25 are 9% - 26-34 are 12%

https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/distribution-by-age/

[TwilightZone]

59. Response in wrong place.

Sorry about that.

[hlthe2b]

38. Uh oh...

Honestly, to the extent younger voters understand the importance and commit, I'm not surprised it applies only to the general election, rather than the primaries.

[FakeNoose]

42. This is an unknown factor until the General Election

I think it would be safe to assume that any young person who has never voted before, will NOT be participating in the primary election. How would they even know what the primary is for, if they're presumably not enrolled in any political party?

The time to poll for 18-to-29-year olds is in the General Election. No sweat here, it's a non-issue.

[wishstar]

44. SC had a low turnout too of younger voters

and as I recall the previous states had lackluster youth vote

[Pacifist Patriot]

48. I'm not a statistician so I need help. 18-29 year olds are 16.5% of US population.

Is 13% of voters being in that age range verses 16.5% of the population being in that age range a statistically valid gap to say "young people 18-29 aren't voting?"

I'm being seriously curious here, not snarky.

I'd also be curious to know the following statistics.

Has the voter registration percentage in that age group increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the last decade or so?

Has voter turnout of registered voters in that age group increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the last decade or so?

Before I get concerned about that age group, I'd like to have more data.

[iluvtennis]

51. Don't have any detailed data, but as it's an exit poll, I would think it's very simple math.

For example, if 100 people voted at the polling place, then 16% of them were 18-29 year olds.

As indicated in my post, the journalist who posted on twitter didn't provide any details if this 16.5% was for all states voting today, was it at one poll, was it at 1000 polling locations, was it just a single state, etc., etc.

[TwilightZone]

57. Total population isn't the right figure to use.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=620197

[gollygee]

61. Are you taking into account what percentage of the population is too young to vote?

Like what percentage is 0-17? What percentage of the population doesn't matter as much as what percentage of people old enough to vote.

[moniss]

50. I think that maybe they

look at what's happening and just feel that rather than any bold change or major improvement of any kind on climate,tuition,health care, minimum wage etc. that the most anybody might see is some tax breaks for the rich traded for some minor tweaks here and there. The sad reality is that we are way past where small steps get us anywhere. But we no longer have a country that is able to get behind big massive goals like we did in the '60's with the space program. The combination of political/social splits, constant propaganda, greed and ignorance/lack of academic skills on the part of so many Americans have all come together to bring about a stalemate more or less while the country is browbeaten by a constant media droning on about who called who a name or who isn't liked by this group or that. So after thousands of hours and billions of dollars we stand here with an electorate that is nearly devoid of anybody who can articulate the basic facts, not just their opinions, about any particular program of any particular candidate. We are so propagandized and manipulated on a constant basis that we don't have knowledge about facts we have awareness of opinions about who is nice or "electable" etc. I have kept out of it mostly until now and I still don't have a candidate that I would say I "favor" but I damned sure don't favor what has happened to how this is conducted by the campaigns (every one of them) and the talking shills in the media. But as far as the media goes it's on par for them because only American media could cover a foreign country or region for thousands and thousands of hours a year for years on end and their viewers still have never heard a discussion about the general geography, culture and economy of the area in question and you would think that people who claim to call themselves educated should be able to locate these countries on a map or point out in what general area the capitol city is located but even that is rare. It's way past embarrassing and I fear will be the ruin of this country as entrenched tribalism and ignorance sink their claws deeper into America. Please don't misunderstand this as anything critical of the OP. It's just my take on the whole damn mess.

[Squinch]

52. It's a revolution!

[jmg257]

54. With 18-29 making up 16.5% of the population - maybe that ain't too bad?

18-29: 54.0 million (16.5%)

https://www.marketingcharts.com/featured-30401

[TwilightZone]

56. You'd need to know what percentage of the voting-eligible population they are.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=620197

[jmg257]

62. AH thank you so much - good info! nt

[onecaliberal]

58. My two 19 year olds voted early last week.

[helpisontheway]

63. Many are on spring break this week. Nt

[zackymilly]

64. Any new video games out? n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

65. Not very surprised, they usually don't.

[IVoteDFL]

67. Some of my friends refuse to vote in the primary because they don't want to register for a party

They like being seen as "Independents" or "Other" because it's cool or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised if that is a common mentality.

I think it'll be a different story in the GE.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

70. Unfortunate but that's usually been the trend.

It's a good idea to get the youth involved but one shouldn't stake their whole campaign on the youth vote.

[octoberlib]

71. Rick Wilson had a chapter on this in Running Against the Devil with stats.

Young people have concerns that need to be addressed but to effect change and have any power they have to show up. They could change the world; allit it takes is voting every two and four years.

[Steelrolled]

72. Many people I know under 30 or so have no interest in politics

It just doesn't mean anything to them - their interests are elsewhere.

[rownesheck]

76. Honestly,

I didn't know what a primary was until I was like 28. That's when I finally got with the program.

[SKKY]

84. Par for the course...