According to preliminary data from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, only one percent of eligible voters under the age of 30 turned out for Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, compared to the five percent that participated in 2008. Ron Paul once again won the youth vote, with 41 percent, but just barely.

“These very low numbers raise questions about whether Ron Paul can compete in big-state primaries and whether Mitt Romney can draw significant youth support,” said CIRCLE director Peter Levine. “The McCain/Palin campaign performed poorly among young people in 2008, and Mitt Romney has an opportunity to improve, but so far, the primary and caucus turnout rates provide no evidence that he has connected with young people.”

Nobody expects young voters to turn out nearly as enthusiastically for President Obama in 2012 as they did in 2008, but they sure as hell aren’t flocking to the alternative.


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6 replies on “Only One Percent of Eligible Youth Voters Took Part in Nevada Caucus”

  1. is the 1% that of all voters in the US under the age of 30, or 1% of all the Nevada voters under 30?
    Maybe the Reno and Vegas cocktail waiters and waitresses had schedule conflicts.

  2. @5

    Actually, there was only one evening caucus in the whole state. It was in Las Vegas and it was only for people who signed an affidavit saying that they couldn’t make the Saturday morning caucus due to RELIGIOUS matters — in short, it was a caucus set up for Jews and 7 Day Adventists. In reality it was set up for one man, a Jewish man who has given $10 million to Gingrich’s super pac.

    The Ronulans (Ron Paulistas) crashed the caucus anyway, many lying under oath about their religious preferences. Ron Paul won the special caucus in a landslide. They’re still pissed about the special caucus and some are threatening to sue. A lot of them think the whole caucus was rigged, since it took a day and a half to count the ballots and no media was allowed into most caucus sites.

    Four years ago the Democrats reached out to people who worked in the service industry, by having caucus sites in casinos and all along the Strip. The NV Republicans did no such thing; they had zero sites on the Strip and all their caucus sites were schools and community centers. They made it hard for working people to vote.

    The NV GOP screwed the pooch. They pissed off a lot of voters. And Latinos can’t stand Romney. Pass the popcorn. It’s gonna get awesome.

    http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/201…

    http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/201…

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