Video: Young voters inspired, involved
Anna Dumont, 18, freshman at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., is no johnny-come-lately to the presidential race.
Last summer, she traveled to Iowa to volunteer for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, drawn by his calls to young people for their support.
"Everyone talks about how we're not willing to get up and get involved," she said of youthful voters. "But no one has asked us to get involved before now."
Dumont respects Obama's chief rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, but Dumont says many young people feel Clinton represents the Democratic establishment.
John Pellito, 19, agrees.
"My entire lifetime I've seen American politics be a business of 'Republicans don't like Democrats, liberals don't like conservatives,' and so now we have this politician - this leader - who says we're all one American people, we're all one nation," said Pellito, a sophomore at the University of Rochester. "Instead of using this politics of division, we should be using politics of addition."
Nationally, participation by voters age 18 to 24 was up this year. Super Tuesday exit polls from CNN and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement showed that youth turnout doubled, tripled and in some cases quadrupled from the 2000 and 2004 election cycles in states like Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts and California.
"The youth vote is tremendously important in this election," said Tim Kneeland, a professor of history and political science at Nazareth College in Rochester. "Not only in the historic sense, but the sheer number of people coming out."
Kneeland said younger voters have a preference for Obama and Mike Huckabee, the Republican and former governor of Arkansas.
"Both of them have a message of optimism and hope, and if you listen to either one, they're both the most polished, eloquent speakers in either camp," Kneeland said. "Clearly both have shown an ability to speak off the cuff and to be witty, which engages young people."
That was the case with Bryan Lindenau, 23, a senior at the Rochester Institute of Technology and native of Tuscon, Ariz. He said that he's never really cared about politics until this year, when Obama inspired him to become more active.
Even if other youth don't subscribe to the same political ideals he does, Lindenau said, it's become evident that more than ever, now is the time to get involved for all young voters.
"(Obama) really cuts through the cynicism and I've been a cynic for a while - just not a believer in the whole process - but Barack Obama came along and I'm back to believing again," he said.
Penfield, N.Y., resident Owen Coyle didn't get to vote in the state primaries because he's 17, but he can't wait until the general election in November, when he'll be old enough to cast his ballot for the first time.
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