Candidates Tap National Youth Vote

Generation Y: the Echo Boomers, the Millennial Generation, the children of the Baby Boomers. Whatever the title, the youth of today, formerly labeled apathetic, unreachable teens antithetical to their activist parents who drove the cultural and political revolutions of the Vietnam War era, are hot commodities for an unexpected demographic: the 2008 presidential hopefuls.

As the primary season is heating up, the Millennials are making history. Forty-four million Americans aged 18 to 29, representing approximately a quarter of the nation’s electorate, will be eligible to vote in 2008 according to an article by youth voting expert Heather Smith. Consequently, gaining the youth vote has become a defining feature of both Democratic and Republican candidates’ campaigns.