The Effect of the Young Vote on the Election

As I had mentioned in my previous post this is my first year voting, thus I am extremely interested in the impact of young voters (primarily ages 18-29) in the election. As had occurred four years ago in the previous presidential election, young voters are making an impact in who gets elected for the presidency. Although it was not significant enough for the Democratic candidate to win the Floridian electoral votes, in Miami-Dade County the Democrat won the majority of the votes. This was a breakthrough in voting history since the large Cuban population in Miami always votes Republican. What can account for this change you might ask? Well, it was the large number of first time voters which tend to vote for the democratic party. As mentioned in the book American Government and Politics Today, individuals from lower socioeconomic classes tend to vote democratic, as well as those students that attend universities. The reason being is due to the major influe nce that liberal professors have on students (these individuals also tend to vote for the democratic party). Furthermore, I am interested in viewing the effect of first time voters in this election; during the last election a number of my friends were dying to vote (Democratic), but could not due to their age, now that they are able to vote it is important to ponder what effect it will have on the voting outcome in South Florida, and better yet in Florida as it whole? Will Florida continue to be a Republican state or will the young populatation be strong enough for us Floridians to become finally a DEMOCRATIC STATE?

For further information look at the following links:
http://www.civicyouth.org/quick/youth_voting.htm
http://www.yda.org/tools/19/youth-statistics
http://mcdac.blogspot.com/2007/12/medina-county-voting-patterns-by-age.html