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Friday, October 27, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Lack of interest in issues blamed for low youth turnout
By ALLEN HOLDER
Staff Reporter
It's a fact simply stated: College students—and other groups of people between the ages of 18 and 25—have poor voting records.
Seven years ago, in 1971, the 26th amendment gave people between the ages of 18 and 21 the right to vote. That act added 48 new voting districts to the potential electorate in the 1972 election.
Yet, according to Alan Cigler, associate professor of political science, only 48 percent of the people who were eligible to vote in the last presidential election—and that future may be overestimated.
Although no official voting records exist, both break down turnout on the basis of age. Cider said, surveys have indicated that
voting participation differs among age groups. Persons under 25 and older than 65 have the lowest levels of turnout. Persons between 35 and 50 have the highest level.
HE GAVE SEVERAL reasons for the lower rate of young voter turnout.
"A high proportion of people in their 20s or younger don't see politics as immediately salient to their personal lives," he said. "Many aren't paying tax directly, and many are working in a production side of the economy. Politics has to compete with the social events and courtship concerns.
The 'taxation of politics is an important motivation for political participation, and it can be argued that its effect is substantial.'
political influencer who said students usually had better rates of voting turnout than other persons in that age group who were not in school.
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Issues that are especially important to younger voters, such as the Vietnam war, have not been as apparent in the past few decades. Because of this, such issues also prompt a low turnover rate.
Turnout rates in this election may not be different. Of-year elections rarely attract large majorities, but are often
HOWEVER, IN THE 1974 campaign, also an off-year election, one race did appear to be important to college-aged voters, Cigler said.
That was the race between an-Atty. Gen. Vern Miller and Gov. Robert F. Bennett. Bennett won, partly because he campaigned heavily for university vote at the University of Kansas in Douglas County, Kansas State University, in Riley县
"Off-year elections strike me as having an average turnover rate of about 38 percent, which is incredibly low," Gliad said. "But I know what an acceptable turnover rate is."
TONI WOOD, president of the KU Young Democrats, agreed with Cigler that the lack of student-oriented issues might keep younger voters away from the polls.
"I've thought a lot about that," she said. "There aren't as many great emotional issues now as there were in the late 60s and early 70s."
Wood, Cherryvray junior, said she didn't think students were interested in issues such as energy and inflation because they weren't directly affected by them.
Zack Reynolds, chairman of the College Republicans, said he also had observed a lot of apathy recently, but he wasn't sure why so much of it existed.
"I've noted alot of apathy in students this year," she said.
He said many students taught their votes did not have much effect on the results of the election.
"I DON'T KNOW why some people think the way they do," Reynolds said.
Reynolds, Eureka senior, said that even an issue such as tuition tax credits didn't seem to be as important to students as it was to their parents.
Both the College Republicans and the Young Democrats have tried to get students interested in voting and generally more interested in elections.
Reynolds the Republicans staged a campuses, where they set up tables in residence, where students set up tables in residence, and go door-to-door off campus to identify voters as Republicans, Democrats or Irresponsible.
If the student identifies himself as either a Republican or Independent, Reynolds said,
REYNOLDS SAID this year's Republican speakers had included Bennett; Nancy Landon Kassabeum, U.S. Senate candidate; Jim Jeffries, candidate for U.S. representative in the 2nd district and U.S. Rep. Larry Winn, from the 3rd district.
he usually is asked what candidates he favors and whether he is interested in helping with the campaigns of Republican candidates.
The College Republicans also invite candidates to speak to the campus group
The College Republicans also try to get someone from the county clerk's office to set up a voter registration table during enrollment. Revolvns said.
The KU Young Democrats operate in a similar manner, according to Wood.
The Young Democrats have invited Democratic speakers this year such as U.S. Senate Candidate Bill Roy, Atty. Gen. Carl Schneider and State Rep. Mike Glover, who
The Democratic group also has been involved in registration drives.
younger voters is lower than the rates of voters in the peak voting years, 35-50, Cigler said the current generation of younger voters differed from previous generations
"The events of the previous decade have left their mark," he said. "Young potential voters are even more cynical about politics than the current older political generation. More voters are electors in the 1950s were markedly less cynical about politics than their elders."
Cigier said that according to a poll done after the 1972 election, more than one fourth of people under 24 thought they had "no duty to vote" and "no political power." Those figures were more than twice as high as those people under 24 who were part of a 1956 study.
Cigler, however, said there was room for optimism on the voter turnout rate of young
"IN 10 YEARS we should see it turn around." he said.
Because the electorate is composed of a high percentage of people in the "low turnout prone" age range-18 to 30 years—who group affect the entire electorate.
Cigler said that within the next decade, the evidence probably would aid rather than retrain the police.
"In the not-too-distant future, the large, currently low turnout proportion of the electorate will reach the stage in life in which politics becomes extremely salient," he said.
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Election'78
U. S. Senate
...e three
Governor
...pages four and five
Attorney General
The Rev. Richard Taylor .page six
... page five
Liquor by the drink
... page six
Vern Miller speaks out
page seven
1st District—Keith Sebelius
2nd District—Martha Keys and Jim Jeffries
3rd District—Larry Winn
4th District—Dan Glickman and Jim Litsey
5th District—Don Allegrucci and Robert Whittaker
CANDIDATES FOR THE KANSAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In addition, the special section following this one will contain news and analyses of other important Kansas races. The races covered include:
U. S. CONGRESSIONAL RACES:
-43rd District-Jim Supica and John Vogel
45th District—John Solbach and Ken Whitenight
Richard Beaustand Pekri
- 44th District - Mike Slavey and
- 45th District - John Solbach and Ken Whitenight
43rd District —Jim Supica and John Vogel
44th District —Mike Glover and Willie Amison
State Secretary—Betty Paxton and Jack Brier
State Secretary - Betsy Patton and James Ungerer
State Treasurer - Joan Finney and James Ungerer
—District 1 County Commission Seat—John Suder and Walter Cragan
—An analysis of the Kansas Legislature and which party will control it after the November election
Candidates and the way they use the media
—A look at politicians on the campaign trail
—Money: A problem and a blessing. Who spent what and who the major contributors are
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