Earth Equity News

Young Voters Key to Obama Victory. By John Uhl, SolveClimate, November 7, 2008. "The support of voters age 18-29 may have been decisive in Barack Obama's presidential election victory this Tuesday, according to estimates from The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). CIRCLE projections show both an increase in the percentage of young voters among overall voters -- young voters representing 18 percent of the total voter tally, up from 17 percent in 2004 -- and that young voters overwhelmingly preferred Obama. Obama, who received a projected 52 percent of the total popular vote, received 66 percent of the under-30 vote. In 2004, by comparison, John Kerry received 48.1 percent of the popular vote and 54 percent of the under-30 vote. John Della Volpe, the director of polling for the Harvard Institute of Politics, estimates Obama won the youth vote by 8.3 or 8.4 million -- and the overall popular vote by about 8 million. 'Young people, no question, were the driving force behind this election,' he told MSNBC... Since concern about the environment, among the young, seems to cross party lines, Obama may find broad support from the under-30 constituency for progressive, far-reaching policies to reduce emissions, invest in alternative energy sources and, in short, build a new, clean energy economy... Young voters increasingly see solutions for both the problems of the environment and the economy as intertwined, according to Jessy Tolkan, executive director of the Energy Action Coalition... whose Power Vote campaign sought to mobilize 1 million young Americans to vote on climate and energy issues."