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{The Blue Banner}
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Low young voter turnout hurts Democrats
Liberals' reliance on young voters proves unsuccessful
Trevor Metcalfe
IOMETCAL@UNCA.EDU
STAFF WRITER
Apathetic young voters stayed home
this midterm election and hurt Demo
crats as a result, according to UNC
Asheville professors and student party
leaders.
“They have to excite young people
again,” said Mark Gibney, a UNCA
political science professor who of
fered postelection analysis with col
league Bill Sabo on local public radio
station WCQS last Wednesday.
Data from The Center for Informa
tion & Research on Civic Learning
and Engagement indicates about one
out of five young people ages 18 to 29
voted in this election. This is a sharp
drop from the 51 percent who voted in
2008, but relatively on par with recent
midterm turnout, like the 23 percent
who voted in 2006.
Gibney said the number of seniors
and women who went from blue to red
in 2010 surprised him. Gibney said
the female vote, which traditionally
votes heavily Democratic, split almost
50-50 between the major parties.
“Cuts in Medicare seemed to fuel a
lot of the ways that older people vot
ed, and to me, if there’s any party that
is associated with Medicare, it’s the
Democrats,” Gibney said.
Gibney said Medicare, originally a
Democratic initiative from the 1960s,
traditionally draws criticism from Re
publicans, who dislike the socialist na
ture of the program.
“Yet, for the Democrats to do noth
ing to counter that argument, to me,
that is astounding,” Gibney said.
Gibney said another wetdaiess of the
current administration is President Ba
rack Obama’s inability to connect with
the electorate.
“I have always been surprised by
how little he has reached out to the
American public,” Gibney said. “I
don’t know why there has not been al
most weekly press conferences. He’s
very good in these settings.”
Election Results
OF YOUTH VOTING
2008:
■Democrats age 18-29:
60 PERCENT VOTED
■Republicans age 18-29:
33 PERCENT VOTED
2010:
■Democrats age 18-29:
57 PERCENT VOTED
■Republicans age 18-29:
40 PERCENT VOTED
♦According to The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement
i
Gibney said Sabo’s main argument
during the analysis suggested there
may be a political change occurring
toward the Republicans, but Gibney
himself was more skeptical.
“I would be willing to admit that
in the short term you may be seeing
that, but I don’t believe that in the long
term,” Gibney said.
UNCA College Democrats Presi
dent Katja Greeson said the turnout
to her organization’s election day poll
shuttle service reflected the low turn
out in general.
“I feel like we gave a lot of infor
mation out, but we didn’t actually get
a lot of turnout to the polls,” Greeson
said.
Greeson said she believed the Dem
ocrats and Republicans would have to
reconcile in order to avoid congressio
nal gridlock.
“Initiatives from both sides of the
House and Senate, like Republicans
and Democrats, won’t come through
as strongly as they want them to, but
they’ll definitely be moderated out,”
she said.
As for the congressional focus for
the next two years, Greeson said she
thinks the economy will prove to be
the most pressing issue.
“The next two years will have a
definite focus on economics and the
“Cufs in Medicare
seemed to fuei a
lot of the ways that
older people voted,
and to me, if there’s
any party that is
associated with
Medicare, it’s the
Democrats, ”
- Mark Gibney^
UNCA political science
professor
economy, more so than social issues,
because I think those will be kind of
gridlocked more,” Greeson said.
Sophomore German student Han
nah Clark voted for the first time on
Tuesday. About 9 million Americans
between the ages of 18 and 29 voted
in this election.
“It was a little confusing because it’s
not really something you’re taught in
school,” Clark said. “So I had to study
the sample ballot.”
Clark said she felt frustrated when it
took organizers several minutes to find
her correct address, but enjoyed the
experience overall.
“It felt good to exercise my right for
the first time,” Clark said.