Younger voters roaring to life [View All]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10230721

Published Sunday | January 13, 2008
Younger voters roaring to life
BY ROBYNN TYSVER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

COUNCIL BLUFFS - A new generation of young people who came of age after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks appears to be massing into a powerful voting bloc in 2008.


A crowd filled with exuberant young people cheers for presidential hopeful Barack Obama at the Iowa Events Center's Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines after he won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa on Jan. 3.


The generation that some are calling "Millennials" proved instrumental in Democrat Barack Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses.

And in New Hampshire last week, voter turnout among people younger than 30 more than doubled from 2004.

These young men and women say the Iraq war, health care and the economy are driving them to the caucuses and primaries. Many say they are looking for candidates who are authentic and devoid of "political spin."

Thirteen percent of eligible Iowans younger than 30 participated in the caucuses. Obama won the backing of 57 percent of young Democratic caucusgoers.

The youth turnout in New Hampshire was 43 percent. Most of those young people voted in the Democratic primary. Obama won support from 45 percent and Hillary Clinton scooped up 31 percent.

FULL story at link.