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Young Voters: Untapped Resource?

Aired May 23, 2003 - 15:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: College students could play a critical role in the 2004 presidential race, according to a new nationwide survey. It shows that 18 to 24-year-olds are divided between President Bush and an unnamed Democrat; 26 percent say they are not sure. The survey was done by the Harvard Institute of Politics.
I spoke just a short time ago with Harvard Student Jonathan Chavez and Institute Director Dan Glickman, who served as agriculture secretary under President Clinton. I asked Glickman to share some of the more surprising details from the study.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN GLICKMAN, DIRECTOR, HARVARD INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: The survey shows that nearly 60 percent of undergraduate college students will vote in the next election. Now that's much higher than the number that actually voted in the 20000 election. But the numbers indicate that there is great interest among college students in politics and public servants and public service, and that if politicians properly target this group and work on them, you're going to see voting turnout much higher among college students this time than before.

WOODRUFF: But how can one be confident of that, Jonathan Chavez, because some thing like 30 percent of young people, 18 to 24, turned in the last presidential election. What makes you think more of them are going to turn out the next time?

JON CHAVEZ, HARVARD STUDENT: Well, I think we do see an interest in students on the issues that are very much in line with what's going on currently with the political climate. We see students interested in tax cuts. We see students interested in the economy. They're worried about getting jobs after they graduate from school.

So although we cannot guarantee that these people are going to vote, I think that if politicians do make a conscious effort to go out there and get them, our survey shows that they really do want to be engaged in the political process. It's just a matter of going out there and getting them.

WOODRUFF: The other thing -- I think the other myth, if you will, that you all say that you've effectively partially, at least, disproved, is that most young people are liberal on the issues. What did you find out? GLICKMAN: Well, I found that, in fact, the ideology of young people is remarkably independent. There's a remarkable evenness in terms of liberal, conservative, Republican and Democrat. On economic issues, they tend to be more conservative. On some social issues, they tend to be liberal, but not too liberal, which means they are ripe for the picking.

And if politicians targeted them like they target seniors or veterans or small business people or all the other groups that are targeted, there's a powerful pool of additional voters.

WOODRUFF: Ripe for the picking, but Jonathan Chavez, again, what we have been told is that for politicians to get these young people to vote, they have to expend a lot more time and a lot more money in order to get their -- to turn their turn their interest into showing up at the ballot.

CHAVEZ: That doesn't simply doesn't seem to be true from what we've seen from our survey. What it seems to be is that kids are tired of every time they turn on the TV, seeing politicians at a senior center or seeing them to talking to veterans.

It's not that hard for politicians to come to a college campus once in a while and do a speech. It's simply a matter of them saying that, Yes, we are interested in you. There's a vicious cycle going on in politics.

WOODRUFF: But Secretary Glickman, you've been in politics. You served in the Congress. I mean, haven't you seen, with your own eyes, how hard it can be to pin down these young people, to get them, again, to transfer their interests into voting?

GLICKMAN: It is, but I tell you what it takes. It takes a lot of hard work and effort and attention and money on the part of politicians to focus on young people and you're dealing with a group that's fairly unpredictable, so you're not quite sure how they're going to vote.

WOODRUFF: Exactly.

GLICKMAN: So you'd rather go after the seniors or the veterans or the small business people because it might be easier to get a continuity of interest on votes.

But the tragedy is is that there's a group of young people -- every body gives lip service to this -- who would like to be involved in the American political system and all they need to be is asked and worked like every other interest group in the American system.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Dan Glickman and Jonathan Chavez of Harvard's Institute of Politics.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired May 23, 2003 - 15:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: College students could play a critical role in the 2004 presidential race, according to a new nationwide survey. It shows that 18 to 24-year-olds are divided between President Bush and an unnamed Democrat; 26 percent say they are not sure. The survey was done by the Harvard Institute of Politics.
I spoke just a short time ago with Harvard Student Jonathan Chavez and Institute Director Dan Glickman, who served as agriculture secretary under President Clinton. I asked Glickman to share some of the more surprising details from the study.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN GLICKMAN, DIRECTOR, HARVARD INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: The survey shows that nearly 60 percent of undergraduate college students will vote in the next election. Now that's much higher than the number that actually voted in the 20000 election. But the numbers indicate that there is great interest among college students in politics and public servants and public service, and that if politicians properly target this group and work on them, you're going to see voting turnout much higher among college students this time than before.

WOODRUFF: But how can one be confident of that, Jonathan Chavez, because some thing like 30 percent of young people, 18 to 24, turned in the last presidential election. What makes you think more of them are going to turn out the next time?

JON CHAVEZ, HARVARD STUDENT: Well, I think we do see an interest in students on the issues that are very much in line with what's going on currently with the political climate. We see students interested in tax cuts. We see students interested in the economy. They're worried about getting jobs after they graduate from school.

So although we cannot guarantee that these people are going to vote, I think that if politicians do make a conscious effort to go out there and get them, our survey shows that they really do want to be engaged in the political process. It's just a matter of going out there and getting them.

WOODRUFF: The other thing -- I think the other myth, if you will, that you all say that you've effectively partially, at least, disproved, is that most young people are liberal on the issues. What did you find out? GLICKMAN: Well, I found that, in fact, the ideology of young people is remarkably independent. There's a remarkable evenness in terms of liberal, conservative, Republican and Democrat. On economic issues, they tend to be more conservative. On some social issues, they tend to be liberal, but not too liberal, which means they are ripe for the picking.

And if politicians targeted them like they target seniors or veterans or small business people or all the other groups that are targeted, there's a powerful pool of additional voters.

WOODRUFF: Ripe for the picking, but Jonathan Chavez, again, what we have been told is that for politicians to get these young people to vote, they have to expend a lot more time and a lot more money in order to get their -- to turn their turn their interest into showing up at the ballot.

CHAVEZ: That doesn't simply doesn't seem to be true from what we've seen from our survey. What it seems to be is that kids are tired of every time they turn on the TV, seeing politicians at a senior center or seeing them to talking to veterans.

It's not that hard for politicians to come to a college campus once in a while and do a speech. It's simply a matter of them saying that, Yes, we are interested in you. There's a vicious cycle going on in politics.

WOODRUFF: But Secretary Glickman, you've been in politics. You served in the Congress. I mean, haven't you seen, with your own eyes, how hard it can be to pin down these young people, to get them, again, to transfer their interests into voting?

GLICKMAN: It is, but I tell you what it takes. It takes a lot of hard work and effort and attention and money on the part of politicians to focus on young people and you're dealing with a group that's fairly unpredictable, so you're not quite sure how they're going to vote.

WOODRUFF: Exactly.

GLICKMAN: So you'd rather go after the seniors or the veterans or the small business people because it might be easier to get a continuity of interest on votes.

But the tragedy is is that there's a group of young people -- every body gives lip service to this -- who would like to be involved in the American political system and all they need to be is asked and worked like every other interest group in the American system.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Dan Glickman and Jonathan Chavez of Harvard's Institute of Politics.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com