SUB Hamburg A/572023 GREAT QUESTIONS IN POLITICS SERIES Is Voting for Young People? With a New Chapter on the 2008 and 2010 Elections Third Edition MARTIN P. WATTENBERG UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE PEARSON Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
Preface to the Third Edition Acknowledgments page xi page ix Introduction page I An Overview page 4 CHAPTER I The Aging of Regular Newspaper Readers page 7 Who Reads a Newspaper Every Day Anymore? page 10 Has Reading a Newspaper for Political Content Changed? page 14 Can Similar Patterns Be Found in Other Established Democracies? Do Young Adults Just Not Like to Read? page 23 Conclusion: A Future for Newspapers? page 25 page I CHAPTER 2 The Aging Audience for Politics on TV page 21 Is Network TV News a Dying Dinosaur? page 31 Is Cable News Picking up the Slack? page 36 Where Have All the Water-Cooler Shows Gone? page 39 Can Similar Patterns Be Found in Other Established Democracies? page 4 Conclusion: Can Soft News Save the Day? page 53
CHAPTER 3 Don't Ask Anyone Under 30 page 55 Have Young People Become Less Likely to Follow Political Events? page 56 What News Stories Did Young People Follow in 2004? page 64 Is This the Least Politically Knowledgeable Generation of American Youth Ever? page 68 Are Young People in Other Democracies Similarly Clueless About Politics? page 73 Conclusion: The Impact of Political Knowledge page 82 Appendix to Chapter 3 page 84 CHAPTER 4 Where Have All the Young Voters Gone? page 87 Turnout by Age in American Presidential Elections Since 1964 page 89 Turnout by Age in Parliamentary Elections: Change over Three Decades page 95 The Turnout Gap in American Second-Order Elections page 99 The Turnout Gap in Second-Order Elections in Other Established Democracies page 110 Conclusion: Was Lowering the Voting Age a Mistake? page 115 CHAPTER 5 Do Young Adults See Voting as a Civic Duty? page 117 Have Young Americans Become Less Likely to View Voting as a Duty? page 119 Can Similar Trends Be Found in Other Democracies? page 124 Conclusion: A Window Into the Future? page 127
CHAPTER 6 Does Low Youth Turnout Really Matter? page 129 Does Position in the Life Cycle Affect Policy Positions? page 131 Is There a Generation Gap in American Voting Behavior? page 138 Are There Age Gaps in Ideology and Voting Behavior in Other Countries? page 141 Conclusion: A Government for Older People? page 146 CHAPTER 7 A New Civic Engagement Among Young People? page 149 Are Today's Young People the Volunteer Generation? page 151 Have Young People Become More Involved in Community Problem Solving and Contacting Governmental Officials? page 157 Have Young People Turned to Unconventional Forms of Political Participation? page 162 Conclusion: Young People's Place in the Forest of Political Participation page 167 CHAPTER 8 Young People's Role in the 2008 and 2010 Elections page 169 Has the Internet Changed Age Patterns of Political Attention? page 171 Did Young People Tune in to the 2008 Conventions and Presidential Debates? page 175 Did the Campaigns Really Reach out to Young People in 2008? page 176 How Much Did Young People Participate in the 2008 Nomination Process? page 180 Did Young People Vote at Higher Rates in the 2008 General Election? page 184
viii Where Did All the Young Voters Go in 2010? page 186 Conclusion: Last Place in Turnout Is Nothing to Crow About page 189 CHAPTER 9 What Can Be Done? page 191 How to Improve Turnout Rates Without Compulsory Voting? page 191 Want a Solution? Consider Compulsory Voting page 196 How Much Support Is There for Compulsory Voting? page 198 Is Talk of Compulsory Voting at All Realistic? page 202 Endnotes page 205 Index page 217 Name Index page 217 Subject Index page 219