AU students who voted in this year's election contributed to a record-high turnout of young voters.
Between 22 and 24 million young people voted in the election, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a non-partisan organization based at Tufts University that researches youth's political engagement. Youth turnout increased by at least 2.2 million since last election, according to CIRCLE.
Young voters preferred President-elect Barack Obama to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., by 68 percent to 30 percent, according to MSNBC.
"I think the way that [Obama] mobilized youth for the campaign, he also mobilized a permanent group of people he can draw on for support as president," said James A. Thurber, the director of AU's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
"If Barack Obama hadn't been elected, we would have seen a lot of voters turned off," he said.
An increase in youth turnout could have been predicted, based on how many young people signed up to volunteer for the campaigns, according to Thurber.
"Usually volunteer participation drops off around 80 percent, since some people say they will show up and then don't," he said.
But in this election, there was 130 percent participation, since more people signed up to help than needed, Thurber said.
"We [at AU] certainly lived up to our reputation as the number one school at politics," he said.
Some AU students who participated in previous presidential elections made sure to vote again in this year's election.
"I always vote, this wasn't my first presidential election," said Sammantha Watson, a senior in the School of Public Affairs who is a registered voter in Virginia. "But I live in a swing state, so I always make sure to fill out my absentee ballot."
Cydney Gumann, a first-year graduate student in the School of International Service, said it is important for youth to vote even if the election does not appear to be as monumental as this election.
"It's important to feel part of the process and to have your voice heard," she said. "If you helped to elect Obama, you essentially have voiced your opinion."
But the youth who did participate in the election were not representative of all American youth, according to Curtis Gans, the director of AU's Center for the Study of the American Electorate.
"This year's election was the result of an Obama phenomenon, not of the Millennial generation of youth," he said. "And they were absolutely representative of college educated youth."
These youth voters will only participate in the next election if Obama helps keep them together, Gans said. Obama must encourage active participation among youth to improve our country.
Youth voter turnout has been rising slowly over the last few elections, Thurber said.
For the first time this election, both candidates made significant efforts to target the youth demographic, he said.
"Youth voters got engaged in two important ways," Thurber said. "They gave contributions - small ones -and they also were very involved in the caucuses, the first of which was Iowa."
Obama also gained youth support because he used technology they could relate to, he said. For example, Obama announced Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., as his running mate via text message, a tactic Yaniv Nahon, a freshman in SPA said he appreciated.
"Young voters gave [Obama] this election, through their work and through their technological savvy," he said.
Obama's use of Facebook as a campaign tool also appealed to younger voters, he said. During the election season, Facebook members could become a fan of Obama or add an application to join his online campaign.
But Obama was successful because he did not simply rely on a strong grassroots campaign, he also had a good head for strategy, Nahon said.
You can reach this staff writer at klitvin@theeagleonline.com.
