Young people who are enrolled in college (37% of the 18-to-24 year-old population in 2012) are more likely to vote than the national youth average.[i] College students are highly likely to turn out to vote if they are registered.

In the 2008 election, 70% of current college students were registered to vote, and 87% of the registered students cast a ballot on Election Day. This was the highest turnout of registered students since at least 1984 (see graph below). Among all youth (18-29), 84% of those who were registered to vote did so in 2008.

College students were over-represented at the polls in 2008, compared to the number in the general youth population. Enrolled college students made up 39% of the 18-to-24 year-old citizen population in 2008, yet made up 48% of youth who voted.

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[i] All statistics in this post derive from CIRCLE’s analysis of the Census Current Population Survey 1984-2008, March and November Supplements.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 11:22 am and is filed under CIRCLE Blog, Higher Education, Research Topics, Youth Voting/Political Participation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.