Young voters
favor Kerry
According to recent polls, young people are fed up with war, economy,
education
by Clayton Woullard
The Metropolitan
Young voters favor Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry
over President Bush by a 2-to-1 margin, according to polls conducted this
summer by the Washington Post and the Pew Research Center, citing trust
in Kerry to handle the economy, the war in Iraq and education.
According to a Washington Post--ABC News poll taken right after the Democratic
National Convention at the end of July, Kerry led Bush among registered
voters under the age of 30. A survey of 2,891 registered young voters
conducted in May and June by the Pew Research Center for the People and
the Press found Kerry ahead of President Bush by 15-points.
The Washington Post wrote last month that the combined survey results
suggested that if the election were held today, President Bush would pull
in about the same number of votes as Republican Bob Dole did during the
1996 presidential race in which Dole lost to Bill Clinton by 53 percent
to 34 percent.
Brian Richardson, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee,
said young people are fed up with what President Bush has done.
“I think it’s because they’ve seen what Bush’s
failed policies have done for young people over the past four years,”
Richardson said, “especially college students who have seen a tuition
hike of over 35 percent at public universities and a dwindling job market
upon graduation.”
Richardson also said young voters believe President Bush went to war
with Iraq on false pretenses, which led to the deaths of hundreds of soldiers,
many of whom are under the age of 30.
“I think a lot of it is because George Bush has misled us,”
he said. “So it’s natural for everybody to be skeptical of
the war and especially for young Americans who are dying in the war.”
Metro student Nathan Pittman, co-president of the newly-formed Young
Democrats of Auraria, said he thinks young voters traditionally vote Democratic
because they haven’t fully cemented their political views and aren’t
that jaded.
“Younger people are just a little more idealistic,” Pittman,
25, said. “They think that the world can be changed…and it’s
not all about the economy, but more about how we can help each other than
how we can benefit for ourselves.”
He also said Democrats tend to focus more on issues that deal with young
voters.
“Traditionally, the Democrats have been more involved in providing
more support for higher education, health insurance and jobs for young
people,” he said, “and those are the priorities for college
people right now.”
Richardson said young people will vote for Kerry because of the party’s
inclusive philosophy and his positive vision for the future.
“The Democratic Party is the party of inclusion where all opinions
are valued and the values of the Democratic Party are the values of the
young people of America,” he said. “They want a leader with
a positive vision and a real plan to help all Americans succeed.”
Richardson said if elected, Kerry would help students pay for college
by offering tax credits of up to $4,000 to them and their families, as
well as providing tuition for a state college or unviersity in return
for a two years of volunteer service.
“I wish it had happened sooner, because I would’ve jumped,”
Pittman said about the service initiative. “Two years where I’m
out there helping people in the nation…but on top of that I get
my college paid for? I don’t think there is a better plan out there.”
Danny Diaz, regional spokesperson for the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign,
said unlike Kerry, President Bush has a real higher education plan. He
said the President would increase financial aid by $4.2 billion to over
$73 billion and would provide about $12.9 million for the Pell Grant program,
which Diaz said would help approximately 5.3 million low-income students
pay for college.
“Today there are more opportunities to college students and young
people have a brighter future because of the pro-education programs and
policies this president has enacted,” Diaz said.
He said Kerry has voted six times against a tax-credit benefit of $4
billion for parents to use toward their child’s education.
He said Kerry estimated the average cost of tuition at $4,000, which
Diaz said is $694 below the average charged by public, four-year degree
institutions in 2003-2004.
Richardson said Kerry would help pay for those initiatives by rolling
back the tax breaks President Bush has given to wealthy Americans, and
would overhaul the student loan program by forcing banks to compete for
student loans.
Metro student Jesse Samora, who is chairman of the Auraria College Republicans,
said he’s seeing more young Republicans, especially as the Democratic
Party continues to alienate young voters.
“I think that if young people actually take the time to stand back
and look at the issues they will realize that the Republican Party is
the party of the future,” Samora said.
David Schwartz, a volunteer for the Denver-based, non-partisan organization
New Voters Project, which seeks to register people between the ages of
18 and 24 to vote, said he has seen young people tend to register as Democrats,
but has seen more register as unaffiliated because of their disgust with
the political process.
Bridget Fitzpatrick, also a New Voters Project volunteer at Auraria,
said she thinks young voters go for certain candidates based on personality,
especially at this point in the race when the candidates are simply figureheads.
This could be one reason voters are undecided or feel apathetic about
the political process.
Sue Casey, director of the Colorado Kerry/Edwards campaign, said that’s
not a good enough excuse.
She said as computer-savvy as young people are, there’s no reason
they can’t go onto the candidate’s Websites and see what they’re
about.
“There’s no excuse for a young person to say ‘I don’t
know anything about John Kerry’ or ‘I don’t know anything
about George Bush,’” Casey said. “I would challenge
young people to take the initiative and spend one of their hours a day
to actually look at what the future of this country will be under the
Kerry/Edwards administration.”
Schwartz said it’s about getting people energized about the political
process.
“If you can just inspire people to get excited about voting, then
the issues will get through,” he said.
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