Young people proved all the naysayers wrong in Iowa by showing up strong for Barack Obama. The Young Voter PAC is proud of the three top Democratic campaigns that employed Youth Vote Directors. Young people are a growing bloc of voters for Democrats and Obama’s win tonight legitimizes their role in Democratic politics.

“After several years of targeting and talking to young people, the hard work of youth vote groups and candidates like Barack Obama who reach out to young people paid off. This is the first year the leading Democratic candidates all have a Youth Director and young voter outreach programs,” said Jane Fleming Kleeb, Executive Director of the Young Voter PAC. “The turnout numbers of young people prove if you target young people they vote.”

The Republicans have a long road to try and make up ground with the youth vote. Young people made up 22% of the Democratic caucus goers up from 17% in 2004. Young people made up only 11% of the Republican caucus goers. Additionally, Democrats of all ages outnumbered Republicans 2 to 1 and young Democrats outnumbered young Republicans 4 to 1 showing a continued trend of the country wanting a change in our national leadership.

Initial statistics* for youth (ages 18-29) turnout in Iowa:

The youth turnout rate tripled in Iowa.

The youth turnout rate rose to 13% in 2008 compared to 4% in 2004 and 3% in 2000.

Out of all of Barack Obama’s support in Iowa, 57% came from young voters (CNN, MSNBC, FOX).

60% of the caucus participants were first time caucus goers and of those 39% of them went for Obama.

22% of the Democratic caucus goers were young people, up from 17% in 2004.

A total of 65,230 young people were caucus-goers in 2008. 52,580 caucused with Democrats and only 12,650 turned out for Republicans. That means of the young people that turned out, 80% were for Democrats!

The totals for both parties are 239,000 Democrats (compared to 125,000 in 2004) and 115,000 Republicans.

More Information: The Young Voter PAC, a national group that helps Democrats win with the youth vote, helped over 150 students get back to caucus and reached over 58k young people ages 18-35 via email and text messages using innovative tools provided by InfoUSA. For more information on the Young Voter PAC visit www.youngvoterpac.org. For more statistics on the youth vote, visit www.civicyouth.org. For an on the ground perspective of the Democratic youth vote in Iowa visit www.futuremajority.com.

*All of the statistics come from CIRCLE, a respected source of young voter data unless otherwise noted.

Iowa is over, but we saved our home page post just for history’s sake…

Students Needing Help

If you are going to school in Iowa and want to come back and caucus, we can help. In order to get gas money and a hotel room just download and fill out this form. Email the form to jane@youngvoterpac.org. The form was due Dec. 31st but we can still help a few more!

Youth Caucusing Stories + Press Inquiries

We compiled a Youth Press Corps that includes youth voting experts and young people living in Iowa. Call Jane Fleming Kleeb at 202-445-5263 or email jane@youngvoterpac.org to set up interviews Some stats are located in our News section.

You can download the youth bios and contact info along with quotes from students carpolling back to Iowa.

Young Voter PAC Office in Iowa

You can find us at the Hy-Vee Hall, room 4, located on lower level 1.
The address is 703 3rd Street, Des Moines

Donate Today!

Donate today to help us pay for housing for students whose dorms are closed during the caucus.

Join Our Facebook Group
Join our Facebook Group to keep up to date with the latest news, join a carpool and to meet other young people who will caucus on January 3rd.

Need More Info on How to Caucus?
Check out www.youcancaucus.com.

So what is the deal with all of this?
Recently the Young Voter PAC along with allied groups like the Young Democrats of America, College Democrats of America and blog Future Majority urged various Democratic Presidential candidates to clarify their statements made to press in Iowa around the student vote.

We are happy that the majority of candidates responded with official statements to the Young Voter PAC.

You can continue to help us take action by getting as many students and young people as possible to the Iowa Caucus on Jan. 3, 2008.

Young Voter PAC Helps Students Get Back to Caucus: Providing Youth Vote Stories for the Press Community

Des Moines, Iowa–The Young Voter PAC, a national group that helps Democrats win with the youth vote, is helping over 150 students get back to caucus and reached over 58k young people ages 18-35 via email and text messages. The youth vote has emerged as a critical bloc of voters for Democrats in recent years. With the caucus falling during winter break this year, youth groups and campaigns are working overtime to help students get back to caucus for Democrats.

“This is the first year the leading Democratic candidates all have a Youth Director and young voter outreach programs. Many students and young voters have been working hard all year to get their peers to the polls,” said Jane Fleming Kleeb, Executive Director of the Young Voter PAC. “It only seemed right to help students get back to caucus when we found out the date would be during winter break.”

Helping over 150 students with gas money and reminding over 58k young people about the caucus, the Young Voter PAC is also connecting youth vote experts and young people to members of the press in order to tell the youth vote story. Conventional wisdom says young people don’t vote. The 2004 elections marked an increase in youth voting, followed by a youth voting increase in 2006. Groups expect the trend to continue in 2008.

In order to download the packet of youth voting experts, volunteers and students coming back to caucus visit: www.youngvoterpac.org (direct link is http://www.youngvoterpac.org/admin/uploadedpics/youth_experts_bios_iowa.pdf). The packet of experts include representatives from the Young Voter PAC, Young Democrats of America, Rock the Vote, PIRGs, College and Young Democrats of Iowa, CIRCLE, Future Majority and young volunteers and caucus goers.

A sample of stats and quotes from the packet are below:

In 2004, the number of 18-29 year old voters (20.1 million) rivaled the number of voters over the age of 65 (23 million).

In 2004, young people ages 17-29 made up 17.14% of the 124,000 Democratic caucus goers. This is an increase of approximately 8% points over 2000.

Young voters’ party identification is strongly Democratic (46% identify as Democrats compared to only 38% of older voters identifying as Democrats), reversing a trend where young people were evenly split among parties.

Running targeted voter registration and field programs matter. In the 10 most competitive 2004 battleground states where youth groups ran programs, turnout was 64.4% among young voters, compared to 48% across all other states.

“I am coming back to caucus because Iowa plays such a huge role in kicking off the election year. My participation in the caucus will be seen by the entire nation, as all eyes will be on Iowa on January 3rd. I feel it is my duty as a young American to participate actively in the future of this country.” - Carla Olszewski, Drake University

“I want to play a role and have an influence on these elections. Being born in Argentina and recently receiving my U.S. citizenship, I want to take advantage of the opportunities I have been given. I don’t want to regret not participating and then feel guilty that my preferred candidate was not elected.” - Julieta Garcia-Vicente, Grinnell College

-END-

Iowa Youth Press Corps
a resource for members of the media

Key youth groups, both partisan and non-partisan, are working to get students and young people (ages 17-35) to the Iowa Caucus. The bios and contact information for national youth vote experts and young people caucusing can be downloaded here or by emailing jane@youngvoterpac.org. The resource list was compiled by the Young Voter PAC. For questions, please call Jane Fleming Kleeb at 202-445-5263.

Key Websites on Caucus Night for Info on Young Voters:

www.youngvoterpac.org stories on students coming back to caucus and for a partisan youth perspective

www.futuremajority.com on the ground blogging from young progressives

www.youcancaucus.com info on Young Democrats of America and College and Young Democrats of Iowa

www.rockthevote.com non-partisan stories on high school turnout

www.civicyouth.org non-partisan data on caucus turnout

Key Stats on the Youth Vote Nationally and in Iowa:

The conventional wisdom that young people don’t vote is wrong. The 2004 elections saw a 25% increase in 18 to 24 year olds voting and that election marked the beginning of a resurgence in voting among young people.

In 2004, the number of 18-29 year old voters (20.1 million) rivaled the number of voters over the age of 65 (23 million).

There are 480,361 young people ages 18-29 in Iowa and they make up 22.2% of the population in Iowa. There are a total of 105,679 college students in Iowa and they make up 21% of all young people.

21,000 students in Iowa are from “out of state.” The percentage of “out of state” students in Iowa ranges at each school. For example, at the University of Iowa 37% of the 30,000 students are from out of state.

In 2004, 124,000 Democrats participated in the caucus which was twice the level of 2000 but only 6% of the eligible electorate.

Students are beginning to trend Obama in Iowa. Young people (not attending college) are split among the top three contenders. It is critical to point out that young people and students were split among the top candidates in 2004 even though the myth was that they were all caucusing for Dean. In fact, Kerry captured the youth vote in Iowa and the caucus results among young people were not that different than the caucus results for older voters. In 2004, 18-29 year olds went 35% Kerry, 23% Edwards, 20% Dean versus people over 29 went 35% Kerry, 25% Dean, 20% Edwards.

There are two sets of turnout numbers for young people in Iowa. Since these numbers will be the ones we use to compare increase in turnout for 2008, we included both. The important thing to note is the trend. Polling in 2007 along with 2004 and 2006 turnout numbers all show an increase in voting and interest. It is difficult to predict with the caucus happening during winter break if we will see an increase in young people caucusing.

CIRCLE DATA: In 2004, ages 17-29 year olds made up 17.14% (13.65% were 17-24 and 3.48% were 25-29) of the 124,000 Democratic caucus goers. This is an increase of approximately 8% points over 2000.

IOWA DEM PARTY DATA: In 2004, 3.9% of 124,000 Democratic caucus participants were age 18 to 24 (or 4,836 people), 18 to 34 year olds made up 10% of the crowd (or 12,400 people).

Young voters party identification is strongly Democratic (46% identify as Democrats, only 38% of older voters identify as Democrats), reversing a trend where young people were evenly split among parties.

Running targeted voter registration and field programs matter which is why youth groups are in Iowa running programs and why the major Presidential candidates have Youth Vote Directors for the first time in the primary phase. In the 10 most competitive 2004 battleground states where youth groups ran programs, turnout was 64.4% among young voters, compared to 48% across all other states.

The bottom line is, when you target young people they vote. This is the first year Presidential candidates have Youth Vote Directors during the primary phase with resources behind young voter programs so we are all watching to see the impact on the caucus as well as the general election.

In recent weeks the student vote in Iowa has garnered significant attention. The Young Voter PAC, a Democratic organization dedicated to increasing the 18-35 year-old vote, wishes the attention had focused purely on turning out the youth and student vote but unfortunately, it has not. Numerous statements by several candidates, their surrogates, and even a noted columnist have sent mixed messages to young people, especially students attending schools of higher education in Iowa.

Attempting to clarify the candidates’ stance on this issue, the Young Voter PAC requested statements from each of the Democratic campaigns. Below are the statements from the campaigns that responded to the request.

(In alpha order)

Hillary Clinton: “Hillary wants every student who lives in Iowa and wants to caucus in Iowa and is eligible to caucus in Iowa to do so. We hope that they will and we hope that they will caucus for Hillary. The Iowa caucus is special because it is based on Iowa values. We hope and trust that every campaign is making sure that potential caucus goers have all the information they need, and in no way explicitly or implicitly encourages anyone to break the law by participating in two places. Not only is it okay to engage students in Iowa, but it is critical to ensure that they are active participants in the process, and we are doing everything we can to get them out to caucus.” –Howard Wolfson, Communications Director

Chris Dodd: “Clearly students who are eligible can vote under the law and of course we welcome the participation of Iowa students in the caucuses” – Hari Sevugan, Communications Director

John Edwards: “The Democratic Party has set clear rules on who can caucus and all the campaigns should follow those rules. Students who move here for college and are properly registered have always been able to caucus.” – Dan Leistikow, Iowa Communications Director

Barack Obama: “Barack Obama doesn’t believe that we should disenfranchise Iowans who meet all the requirements for caucus participation simply because they’re in college. We should be encouraging young people to participate in the political process — not looking for ways to shut them out.” – Jen Psaki, Campaign Spokeswoman

Bill Richardson: “Governor Bill Richardson looks forward to students caucusing for him on January 3^rd. He believes that the caucus process is an excellent opportunity for young voters, and he encourages all students who are eligible to participate and experience the excitement of the first-in-the-nation caucus.” – Roberts Becker, Iowa State Director

In a series of unfortunate statements, the Clinton campaign took a stab at young people while attacking Barak Obama’s effort to reach out to student voters. As reported in The Politico, a Clinton campaign official said “We are not courting out-of-staters. The Iowa caucus ought to be for Iowans.”Senator Clinton went on to say at a town hall in Clear Lake, Iowa: “This is a process for Iowans. This needs to be all about Iowa, and people who live here, people who pay taxes here.”

The problem with this statement is the thinly veiled target of her comments, that is the tens of thousands of students studying at any of the dozens of colleges and universities throughout the state. Iowa has a sales tax therefore every student who goes to school in Iowa—and makes Iowa their home for an average of four years—pays taxes every day when they go to the store. Naturally, many students also work to support themselves and thus pay taxes there as well. Additionally, students pay tuition and consequently help support many of Iowa’s public and private institutions. And none of this addresses the many young people who, after they graduate, continue to make Iowa their home. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Future Majority Editors and Contributors

It gets tiring correcting our elders since they “know what’s best for us” and it is really hard not being completely sarcastic in this response.

Hill.com published a story titled “Running Idol Style” which describes yet another out of touch story and ridiculous attempt by Hollywood and Washington insiders to persuade young people to vote.

Maybe they didn’t get the memo, but young people are voting and it is not because of gimmicks. Young people are voting in record numbers, and voting for Democrats overwhelmingly, because there is real money being invested in programs that work and politicians as well as youth groups are doing the unfathomable, asking for our generation’s vote.

When young people are treated as real voters who can help a candidate win, they turn out to vote. Just ask Montana Senator Jon Tester, Arizona Representative Harry Mitchell or Connecticut Representative Joe Courtney. They all won with the youth vote.

Donors are finally giving to youth voting programs and investing in candidates who target young people. The increase in youth voting is not because of a reality show, it’s because young people are taking responsibility for our generation and creating innovative programs to get our peers to the polls (as a side note to the American Idol bitters, this was already attempted in 2004 by Showtime and didn’t really go anywhere so you might want to take a look at the show “American Candidate” before dumping millions). Read the rest of this entry »

Two candidates, Dayne Walling and Ryan Hersha have targeted young voters and need your help to win on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. Elections boil down to two things-votes and money. You need both to win and the Young Voter PAC’s endorsed candidates for 2007 need your support in the home stretch.

Join the Young Voter PAC in getting Dayne and Ryan elected. Donate today and spread the word about two candidates who make all of us in the 18-35 voting bloc proud. Read the rest of this entry »

Two candidates this election cycle have targeted young voters and need your help to win on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. Elections boil down to two things-votes and money. You need both to win and the Young Voter PAC’s endorsed candidates for 2007 need your support in the home stretch.

Join the Young Voter PAC in getting Dayne and Ryan elected. Donate today and spread the word about two candidates who make all of us in the 18-35 voting bloc proud. Read the rest of this entry »

November 6^th–Election Day 2007–is just around the corner for folks in many states. If you’re reading this, you probably don’t need to be convinced to target young people to vote in the upcoming elections. If you still need convincing, you might want to check out an article in the Politico that laid out some statistics.

The bottom line is if you target and talk to young people they will vote. Not rocket science, true enough. But with Election Day looming for many campaign staffers, volunteers and candidates, the Young Voter PAC thought we would offer up 5 activities that your campaign can do to get 18-35 year-olds to the polls. Don’t fret if you have not started targeting young voters yet. You still have time since many young people, and yes even older voters, don’t pay attention until right at the end.

Each idea below is linked to an organization that has done these activities many times and they should be looked to as a resource for more detailed information and sample materials. Don’t reinvent the wheel, young voter groups like those below, are here as a resource.

1. Go Trick or Voting. Get a bunch of volunteers and your candidate and head to neighborhood streets and community Halloween parties. Create signs saying “Don’t Be Tricked By (insert other candidate’s name), Vote (insert your candidate’s name)” and have volunteers carry the signs. You can even make old-school sandwich boards for volunteers to wear. Get volunteers to dress up as famous Democrats or people that highlight progressive issues that the campaign has focused on during the election cycle (e.g. nurses and doctors to symbolize health care for all). Use this Halloween holiday as a creative time to reiterate your message, get some earned media and increase visibility. Read the rest of this entry »