CIRCLE Working Paper #72 addresses whether efforts to systematically incorporate media into school curricula increase several elements of civic engagement, including students’ media use, their political knowledge, and their sense of being able to understand and influence politics (internal political efficacy). In “The Classroom-Kitchen Table Connection: The Effects of Political Discussion on Youth Knowledge and Efficacy,” the authors find that the combination of reading news articles and discussing them at home and school is related to increased information-seeking and political knowledge among students who were not in advanced placement and honors classes. Moreover, they find that students who were assigned to discuss articles at home with parents and who had parents who scored low on measures of political knowledge and efficacy were the most likely to increase their scores on both dimensions by the end of the experiment. These results could provide guidance to practitioners looking for ways to involve parents in reinforcing what happens in the classroom by extending political discussions to the home as well.

*Download CIRCLE Working Paper #72 “The Classroom-Kitchen Table Connection: The Effects of Political Discussion on Youth Knowledge and Efficacy”

Suggested Citation:  Vercellotti, T., & Matto, E.  (2010). The Classroom Kitchen Table Connection: The Effects of Political Discussion on Youth Knowledge and Efficacy (CIRCLE Working Paper No. 72). Retrieved from Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) website:http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP_72_Vercellotti_Matto.pdf

The panel “Mobilizing the Forgotten Half: Outreach Strategies for Non-College Youth” discussed effective strategies to close the voter turnout gap between young people with college experience and without college experience. Panelists Biko Baker (The League of Young Voters Education Fund), Tarik Ross (Amer-I-Can Foundation and Pasadena youth organizer), Surbhi Godsay (CIRCLE), moderator Abby Kiesa (CIRCLE) and participants discussed how state policies, electoral campaigns and non-profits can engage this cohort of young voters.

 *Watch the panel here

See CIRCLE’s research presentation from the panel on the political engagement of non-college youth

Las Vegas – While young Americans with college experience continue to be more likely to vote than those who don’t attend college, there are effective strategies and initiatives to help bridge this gap, according to new research released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Netroots Nation in Las Vegas this week.

• Fact Sheet (suggested citation: Nover, A., Godsay, S., Kirby, E.H. & Kawashima-Ginsberg, K (2010) Electoral Engagement and College Experience, CIRCLE Fact Sheet, from www.civicyouth.org)
• Press Release

Many more young Americans are going to college, but 22 million (nearly half) of 18 to 29 year olds are not enrolled in higher education programs. Since 2000, voter turnout among college-educated youth has increased by 12 percentage points and non-college youth turnout has increased by nine percentage points. In 2008 the turn out rate of college-educated 18 to 29 year-olds was 62 percent - 26 percentage points higher than the rate of non-college youth. Midterm turnout disparities are equally drastic: in 2006 there was a 17 percentage point gap between the two groups.

Youth voter turnout disparities are even higher when broken down further into four more specific categories. In 2008, 72 percent of those with a Bachelor’s degree or higher voted, which is 21 percentage points higher than the national average for young people. Fifty-seven percent of young people with some college experience voted. Among high school graduates, 39 percent went to the polls. Slightly more than a quarter of young people with less than a high school diploma voted in 2008.

Research shows there are strategies that may help to overcome these turnout disparities. In recent elections some states have implemented election reform laws, including Election Day registration, mail-in ballots, early voting, absentee voting laws and extended poll hours. In fact, in 2008 among 18- to 29-year-old citizens who are in the labor force, implementation of longer polling hours was associated with a seven percentage point increase in the voting rate for full-time (35 or more hours per week) workers and a five percentage point increase for part-time workers.

By Melissa S. Kovacs & Daniel M. Shea

July 2010

In a recent report entitled, Nastiness, Name-calling & Negativity: The Allegheny College Survey of Civility and Compromise in American Politics, the authors found that average citizens are upset about incivility, although they differ by ideology, gender, and media use. “CIRCLE Working Paper #71″  focuses on the newest generation of voters,  finding that they differ from their older counterparts, being less likely to believe that civility is possible, less ashamed about recent incivility, but more supportive of compromise and more optimistic about higher education’s role in promoting civility.  Findings suggest a nearly universal recognition of the problem and a growing concern about the implications of an uncivil body politic. Further, the findings cast blame at a number of institutions, but also give reasons for optimism.

*Download CIRCLE Working Paper #71 “Youth Attitudes toward Civility in Politics”

*Download the full original report here

Suggested Citation:  Kovacs, M., & Shea, D.  (2010). Youth Attitudes toward Civility in Politics (CIRCLE Working Paper No. 71). Retrieved from Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) website: http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP_71_Kovacs_Shea.pdf

June 2010

Interested in facts about young voters in the midterm elections?  CIRCLE has a variety of fact sheets showing youth participation in past midterm elections.

• “Youth Voter Turnout Increases in 2006“shows that the voter turnout rate among 18-to-29-year-olds increased three percentage points between 2002 and 2006 from 22 percent to 25 percent, breaking a trend in declining electoral participation in midterm elections among young people since 1982.  The fact sheet is based on data from the 1978-2006 Census Current Population Survey (CPS), November (Voting) Supplement.
• “Young Voters in the 2006 Elections” includes information about young voters’ political preferences and the issues that concerned them in the 2006 election.  This fact sheet is based on data from the 2006 National Election Pool’s National Exit Poll.
• Quick Facts About Young Voters by State: The Midterm Election Year 2006, ” Using data from the 2006 Census CPS, November Supplement, these facts sheets examine voter turnout rates from 1978-2006, turnout rates by subgroup, and partisanship (where available from theNational Election Pool, Exit Poll surveys) for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• “Quick Facts About Young Voters by Metropolitan Area: The Midterm Election Year 2006,”  these fact sheets analyze voter turnout rates by metropolitan area.
• “Young Urban Voters in the Midterm Election Year 2006”  presents youth voter turnout data for the 2006 midterm elections by urban, suburban, and rural areas as well as information for select metropolitan areas.

April 2010

Using data from the 2008 American National Election Studies (ANES), this fact sheet explores the religious demographics of the Millenials (18-29). Through the lens of religious affiliation, this report examines the ways in which young Americans participate in politics and in their communities. A special focus is given to young Evangelical Christians, a group that has recently recieved considerable media attention. Overall, data indicate that young Americans of faith are more engaged than young people with no religious affiliation.

•  Download the fact sheet

The April edition (v7. i2) of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, Around the CIRCLE, can be downloaded from here. The newsletter includes a variety of articles including:

• The Civic Mission of Schools: A Review of the Research
• Evaluation of Large Urban School District Shows Schools Can Increase Civic Engagement
• Massachusetts Senate Election: Youth Turnout Was Just 15, Compared to 57% for Older Citizens, Young Voters Favored Coakley
• Returning Veterans Continue Service Stateside

If you would like to receive a hard copy of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, please send an email to Emily Hoban Kirby at Emily.Kirby@Tufts.edu with your address.

Interviews with Experts Available; Contact David Roscow at
703-276-2772 x21 or dave@tricomassociates.com

Tisch College, Medford/Somerville, Mass - In the special election for Massachusetts Senator, young voters (age 18-29) preferred Democrat Martha Coakley over Republican Scott Brown by 58%-40% (with 2% for other candidates), according to a survey of 1,000 voters conducted on January 19, by Rasmussen Reports.

About 15% of Massachusetts citizens between the ages of 18-29 turned out to vote.* For citizens age 30 and older, turnout was about 57%.

For comparison: 25% of young citizens (age 18-29) voted in the 2008 Massachusetts presidential primaries, and 47.8% of young Massachusetts citizens voted in the 2008 presidential elections, according to CIRCLE’s analysis. Seventy-eight percent of under-30 voters in Massachusetts chose Barack Obama in the 2008 general election; 20% chose John McCain.

While national youth turnout was very strong in 2008 (when 52% of young American citizens voted), youth turnout in the 2009 Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial races was poor (17% and 19%, respectively), and even lower in Massachusetts this Tuesday. “Three state elections do not necessarily make a national trend, but there is clearly an issue right now with youth turnout and enthusiasm,” said CIRCLE director Peter Levine. “It will be interesting to see the turnout of young voters in November’s mid-term elections.”

According to the Rasmussen survey, most young people who did vote were enthusiastic about Coakley: 89% of her young supporters said they voted for her, not against Scott Brown; and 43% were “very favorable” toward her. Their most important issue was the economy, whereas for voters overall, the number one issue was health care.

Of those Massachusetts voters who said that health care was the most important issue in the Senate campaign (56%), 86% opposed the Democrats’ plan. That was probably one contributor to Scott Brown’s victory. But young voters favored the health care plan, 55%-40%.

Young voters were less likely to be “strong” supporters of President Obama than Massachusetts voters overall (30% of youth versus 35% of all voters), but they were more likely to support him at least “somewhat.” (Sixty-seven percent support the president somewhat or strongly).

* To estimate the turnout of young people who voted in the 2010 Massachusetts Senate Special Election, CIRCLE used the following data sources: (1) the number of ballots cast in the Sentate Special Election according to the New York Times (2) the youth share of those who voted, as reported by Rasmussen’s survey of people who said that they voted, and (3) the estimated number of 18-29 year old citizens taken from the  2009 Census Current Population Survey, December File.

The January edition (v7. i1) of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, Around the CIRCLE, can be downloaded from here. The newsletter includes a variety of articles including:

• Volunteering Eases Return to Civilian Life for Young Veterans
• Youth Turnout Down in New Jersey, About the Same in Virginia, Compared to Past Elections
• New CIRCLE Working Papers on Civic Engagement
• 2009 Civic Index Report Finds Civic Engagement Under Stress in the Recession
• Effects of Election Day/Same Day Registration on the Youth Vote

If you would like to receive a hard copy of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, please send an email to Emily Hoban Kirby at Emily.Kirby@Tufts.edu with your address.

by Hugh McIntosh & Marco A. Muñoz

December 2009 

In Working Paper #69, the authors examine the civic engagement outcomes that Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in  Louisville, KY, has chosen to promote in its students. Using a large sample in an urban school district, the study finds that the most important predictors of youth civic engagement were community service, political discussion, and environmental conservation. It reinforces the claims that community service, discussion of politics, and nonsport extracurricular activities boost civic engagement. As the authors suggest, the outcomes constitute a vision of civic engagement that sees youth as well-rounded citizens capable of engaging in civil, political, and problem-solving activities, both individually and socially. The findings provide intriguing evidence of the potential value of environmental conservation, conflict resolution skill, and character education as pathways to civic engagement.

*Download CIRCLE Working Paper #69 “Predicting Civic Engagement in Urban High School Students”