Youth Vote up to 16% in California Presidential Primary—State’s Young Democrats Energized and Already Working on June Election

We have always known the power of young voters, and we have always known the energy we possess, and in this election that power has been utilized.

With this concentration on young voters we are stronger, and new leaders have been born through the extraordinary power of the Democratic candidates and their attention on youth issues. Students for Barack Obama and Hillblazers led uniquely peer-to-peer campaigns on college campuses throughout California to bring young voters to the polls. They brought their friends, classmates, and dorm mates out to the polls in new and creative ways and in doing so helped to get the 16% of the youth vote.

We are thrilled that Presidential hopefuls are realizing the shifting political landscape demands they pay attention to the youth vote. “Many young Californians are still undecided and we’ve seen that when a Presidential candidate shows us they care about young people and the issues affecting us, we respond by turning out to the polls,” said Nick Warshaw, President of the California College Democrats. With 51 percent of youth turning out for Senator Hillary Clinton, and 47 percent for Senator Barack Obama, it is evident that young voters were swayed by the candidates who invested resources in talking to young voters.

California College Democrats worked to get young people out to the polls through peer-to-peer phone banks, get out the vote email campaigns, and by utilizing social networking sites to remind people about Election Day and direct voters to their polling place. The California College Democrats and the California Democratic Party, made every effort possible to make sure Decline to State voters knew they were welcome to request a Democratic Party ballot.

Our efforts paid off. The youth share of the electorate this election was 16 percent, an increase of 7 percent over 2004. Young people delivered, continuing to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates, choosing to end the war in Iraq, bring economic recovery to the middle class, and fight for college affordability, climate change, and affordable health care instead of affirming the failed Bush agenda.

The California College Democrats have already started preparing to increase young voter turnout for our June primary. We're motivated. We're energized. We're passionate about our future and inspired by the Democratic Party and its candidates. And in 2008 we will continue to be the margin of victory.