There are many here at tGOS that have disparaged voter turnout for younger age groups in US elections; often the disparagement has come with a bit of vitriol.
The disparagement of youth voter turnout was also a feature of the aftermath of the recent EU vote in the United Kingdom, with initial estimates of voter turnout ranging as low as 36% according to exit polls.
A new study by the London School of Economics shows that voter turnout for 18-24 year olds was higher than initial reports.
Much higher:
The turnout among young people aged 18 to 24 in the EU referendum was almost double the level that has been widely reported since polling day, according to evidence compiled at the London School of Economics.
The new findings – based on detailed polling conducted since the referendum by Opinium, and analysed by Michael Bruter, professor of political science and European politics at the LSE, and his colleague, Dr Sarah Harrison – suggests the turnout was 64% among this age group.
It has been widely assumed since the referendum that the turnout among young people was around 36% – a figure that has allowed Brexit campaigners to say young people cannot claim that they were betrayed by older pro-Brexit voters, as almost two-thirds did not bother to vote.
Bruter and Harrison say the lower and wrong estimate was based on information released by Sky Data which relied on data compiled after last year’s general election, which looked at the proportion within each generation who said they always vote.
Overall numbers for all age groups from the report:
The results found that 64% of those young people who were registered did vote, rising to 65% among 25-to-39-year-olds and 66% among those aged between 40 and 54. It increased to 74% among the 55-to-64 age group and 90% for those aged 65 and over. It is thought that more than 70% of young voters chose to remain in the EU.
Not much else to say other than to ask: can we get voter numbers like the 18-24 year old age group in the UK for any age group in the US?