Non-college Youth

In 2004, there were an estimated 12.1 million 18-24 year old American citizens who had no college experience. This constituted roughly 48 percent of the estimated total of 24.9 million 18-24 year old citizens in America.

Non-college attending young Americans have consistently voted at levels below college attending youth in both presidential and midterm election years. Between the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, turnout increased by 11 percentage points among college-educated young people and by 9 percentage points among non-college youth.

Source: Electoral Engagement Among Non-College Attending Youth

Support for Presidential Candidates in 2004
Along with voters age 75 or older, young voters were the only other age group to support John Kerry in last fall’s presidential election. Both college and non-college youth choose the Kerry/Edwards ticket over the Bush/Cheney ticket.

Source: Electoral Engagement Among Non-College Attending Youth

Political Party Identification
In 2004, 18-29 year old voters with college experience were slightly more likely to identify as Republican than their non-college counterparts. However, more than a third of both college and non-college voters identified with the Democratic party.

Source: Electoral Engagement Among Non-College Attending Youth