The September 11 attacks grabbed the attention of young people and increased their satisfaction with government, but the tragedy has not narrowed the long-standing gap between young Americans and others in knowledge about current events and engagement in civic life, according to new survey research released today. Americans under the age of 25 are as likely as older Americans to say their overall interest in news has increased, but they are paying considerably less attention than their elders to news that isn’t directly related to terrorism.

Those were among the findings of a poll released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), which announced its formation today. A major component of an initiative funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, CIRCLE will serve as a key source of information and research about youth civic engagement.

In June 2000, 57 percent of young Americans said they were generally bored with Washington, while in November 2001 an equal share said they were not bored. Yet, despite the attention paid to police, firefighters, and mayors following September 11, only 45 percent said they were even moderately interested in local politics, lower than any other age group, according to the poll sponsored by CIRCLE and conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Among the other major new findings announced by CIRCLE today were:

• Only 32.3 percent of 18-24 year olds voted in the 2000 elections, down from 32.4 percent in 1996, compared to the overall turnout rate of 54.7 percent, up from 54.2 percent in 1996. These figures, not previously released, were calculated based on raw data provided by the Census Bureau. The 2000 election marked a new record low for youth turnout in a presidential year, even though the campaign was closely contested.
• Survey measures of young people's interest in politics and public affairs show substantial declines over the past 35 years.
• Although young people voting at a low rate, a study by Yale University researchers shows that simply asking young Americans to vote can increase turnout by at least five percentage points, at a cost of about $12-20 per additional vote cast.

Focused on the nearly 40 million Americans between the ages of 15-25, CIRCLE, which is based at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Affairs, will assess the current state of knowledge on youth civic engagement, fund research projects that explore why young Americans are disengaging from public life, and identify ways to reverse the trend.

According to the new poll, the terrorist attacks have significantly increased public trust in government, but they have had only a modest impact on attitudes toward trusting other citizens. Young people remain less trusting than older Americans; only a third of those under age 25 say most people can be trusted, compared to 42 percent of all adults.

There is also a significant gender gap in how younger Americans are following the terrorism story. Young women are far more interested than young men in domestic terrorist attacks – with seven in ten women following that story closely, compared to only half of men – while young men than women are paying far more attention to news about military action in Afghanistan.

The poll also found that:

• Three in five18 to 25 year olds followed news about the terrorism attacks “very closely,” compared to two-thirds of all adults.
• While the percent of young people who report following news about the economy nearly tripled between June and November 2001 (rising from 10 to 29 percent), their attentiveness lags far behind the 41 percent of all adults who are following economic news.
• Young people have more positive views of government than older Americans. Two-thirds of 18-25 year olds disagree with the statement that government programs are “inefficient and wasteful,” while only 43 percent of all adults do.

The study, conducted in November 2000 and involving 10,000 young people, found that targeting young people can mobilize additional voters at a cost of $12-20 per vote cast. For $6-10 million, what the study authors called a “relatively small sum of money,” voter turnout among the nation’s five million college students could be increased by 500,000 votes.

"We need to know more about why so many young people disengage from civic life—and about the programs that can help turn this trend around," Galston said. "CIRCLE will work to fill in these gaps in our knowledge."

Peter Levine, a research scholar at the University of Maryland’s Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, serves as CIRCLE’s deputy director. An Advisory Board of scholars and practitioners will guide its research strategy and grant making. More information about CIRCLE can be found at its website, www.civicyouth.org.

The Yale study, which was also funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, is summarized in the report, Getting Out the Youth Vote: Randomized Field Experiments, which is available at www.pewtrusts.org.

The Pew Charitable Trusts (www.pewtrusts.com) support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems. In 2000, with approximately $4.8 billion in assets, the Trusts committed more than $235 million to 302 nonprofit organizations.