BY BETHANY BIRON
Daily Staff Reporter
Published November 3, 2010
Correction appended: An earlier version of the story incorrectly identified the year and type of election in which 23 percent of voters under the age of 30 voted.
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Tuesday’s midterm election yielded not only a decline in the number of Democratic seats in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives, but also a decrease in the percentage of youth voter turnout in comparison to both the last presidential election and the 2006 midterm election.
According to statistics released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, approximately 20 percent of U.S. citizens under the age of 30 voted on Tuesday, down from nearly 55 percent in the presidential election in 2008 and 23 percent in the 2006 midterm election.
Locally, voters in 14 student-heavy districts in Ann Arbor also turned out in much lower numbers than the 2008 presidential election. Only 21 percent of voters in the student-heavy districts turned out in 2010 — representing 5,661 voters of the 26,598 that were registered. In 2008, 45 percent of voters turned out — 15,483 voters of the 34,255 that were registered.
Communication Studies and Political Science Prof. Michael Traugott said the low voter participation from America’s youth was not “unexpected,” saying a low voter turnout among youth has happened in almost every midterm election since the 1930’s.
Traugott said a major reason for the lower percentage of youth voters is the lack of permanent residency among young voters who are often attending universities or beginning careers in new locations.
“A lot of midterm elections focus on local issues and young people are often in a transitional stage in their life,” Traugott said. “So their involvement and engagement with local issues is less and therefore they don’t see or attach as much significance to participation in these local elections as they do in a presidential campaign.”
Traugott also called voting “an acquired habit” and said many young people are still developing political activism skills and learning the importance of voting in local and national elections.
He said that decline in youth voting paired with large numbers of older voters who supported Republican candidates due to troubles in the economy, led to the shift in power seen in this election.
“It’s not surprising to see the incumbent party lose seats in the midterm election, especially with the economy when the conditions are bad,” Traugott said. “The Democrats have had unusually large majorities, so I think it was reasonable to expect they would take unusually large losses.”
Political Science Prof. Vincent Hutchings echoed Traugott’s sentiment, saying that because the economy has been such a prominent issue in the political conversation both locally and nationally since President Barack Obama took office in 2008, voters were hoping that a change in party power may lead to increased solutions.
“Clearly, the most salient issue for most voters — and one doesn’t need the exit polls to see this — would be the economy," Hutchings said. “I think the concern with the economy didn’t work to the Democrats’ advantage, because they’re the party in power and there’s a widespread perception that the economy’s doing very poorly. That’s never going to work for the incumbent party. “
Hutchings said that a growth in Republican seats in the Senate and the House doesn’t necessarily mean that Obama will struggle with maintaining his presidency in the 2012 election.
He added that Obama’s presidency may mirror Ronald Reagan’s in the fact that Reagan faced similar economic difficulties during his time in office, but because of eventual economic growth throughout his term in office, was able to salvage his presidency after the Republicans lost many seats in the midterm results of 1982.
“(Reagan) went on to win in 1984 because the economy had turned around,” Hutchings said.
