Washington, D.C. - 09/20/2006 - With the 2006 elections just over six weeks away, young voters are most focused on education and the cost of college, jobs and the economy, and the war in Iraq, but are not hearing enough from either parties’ candidates on most of these important issues, according to a new poll released today by The George Washington University’s Young Voter Strategies (YVS) in collaboration with GW-Battleground pollsters. The poll, which catalogues young adults’ attitudes in the 2006 election cycle, shows that young voters are engaged—80 percent are registered to vote—and eager to hear more from candidates on issues including college affordability, job creation, energy independence, and health care. Young Voter Strategies, a nonprofit, nonpartisan project at The George Washington University with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, commissioned the poll in response to growing interest in the youth bloc from campaigns and elected officials on both sides of the aisle. The bi-partisan polling team of Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners and Ed Goeas of The Tarrance Group conducted the Young Voter GW-Battleground Poll.

The poll surveyed 650 18-30 year olds from September 10 – 17, 2006, including an over-sample of Hispanics and African-Americans. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 4.4 percent. Key findings include:

Young voters are most focused on key “pocketbook” issues such as education, the economy, and health care, as well as national security and Iraq, but are not hearing from candidates on most of these issues:

• Education and the cost of college (17%), jobs and the economy (13%), and Iraq (11%) were cited as the top issues about which respondents would most like Congress to do something.   
• 86 percent of respondents said that a candidate’s position on Iraq is important in deciding for whom to vote, as did 84 percent for energy issues and 75 percent for college affordability.   
• Most young adults, however, say candidates are not talking enough about issues important to them. Significant majorities say candidates spend too little time talking about health care (70%), college affordability (70%), creating jobs (68%), and gas prices and energy (66%).   
• 80 percent of respondents report that they are registered to vote and 63 percent have been paying “a lot” or “some” attention to the upcoming November elections.

Analyses of this poll by Celinda Lake and Ed Goeas show that both Democrats and Republicans have a significant stake in turning out young voters in 2006 and beyond, but that both parties must do more strategic outreach to young voters.

“This generation of young voters is huge and growing,” said Lake. “The 2006 elections will be won by the party with the best turnout operation – if we’re going to win back Congress this year and build power for the future, Democrats should ramp up efforts to mobilize young voters on issues of college affordability, the war in Iraq, the economy, and health care.” U.S. Census Bureau data shows that today there are 42 million 18-29 year old citizens in the U.S. and that, by 2015, “Generation Y” voters ages 18-38 will be one-third of the U.S. electorate.

“Today’s young adults are paying attention to politics and they will vote if we ask them to,” said Goeas. “Our polling shows that young Republicans are deeply concerned about core GOP issues—energy independence, moral values, and national security—and very supportive of the Republican Party, but need to be targeted and turned out. By turning out our youngest supporters this year, we can prevent our disadvantage with this overall age group from growing and build our base for the future.”

Campaigns around the country are showing an emerging interest in targeting young adults as a way to win elections, said Heather Smith, Director of Young Voter Strategies. “Candidates from California and Arizona to Maryland and Florida are reaching out to young voters via the Internet, on campus, door-to-door, and over the phone,” said Smith. “But after decades of neglect, campaigns’ nascent interest in young voters is not yet enough. We know from our polling what issues move young adults, what tactics mobilize them, and that they will vote when asked. Both parties, if they want to win today and down the road, should make a plan for youth turnout in 2006.”

The Young Voter GW-Battleground Poll surveyed 650 young adults between 18 and 30 years of age, 65 percent white, 13 percent African-American, and 15 percent Latino/a. Of those surveyed, 21 percent were full-time students, 10 percent part-time students, 26 percent were graduates from two or four year colleges, and 33 percent young adults with no college experience.

Young Voter Strategies regularly compiles youth polling, demographic research, and best practices for young voter mobilization. Most recently, YVS produced Polling Young Voters, noted above, and Young Voter Mobilization Tactics, a manual outlining which tactics are most cost-efficient and effective to best turn out youth to vote. Both are available at www.youngvoterstrategies.org. YVS is also running the largest nonpartisan youth voter registration project of 2006, a collaborative project involving 14 groups to register 350,000 18-30 year olds.

The full Young Voter GW-Battleground Poll and analyses from The Tarrance Group and Lake Research Partners are available at www.youngvoterstrategies.org or by contacting Kathleen Barr at katbarr@gwu.edu.

******

Young Voter Strategies, a project of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University, with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, is a nonpartisan, nonprofits organization that provides the public, parties, candidates, consultants, and nonprofits with data on the youth vote and tools to effectively mobilize this electorate for upcoming elections. We are committed to making the targeting of young voters a more permanent part of electoral strategies.

The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University prepares students for participation in democratic politics, providing them with the critical thinking, knowledge, and skills necessary to succeed in professional careers in applied politics. The school also seeks to advance professionalism in politics by assisting the careers of its alumni, generating knowledge in the field, lauding appropriate professional conduct so as to promote ethics and professional standards, and advancing awareness of democratic values of fair play.