Comments

1. Thomas Jacobs 05/15/2009 - 1:46 pm

   I am skeptical of this analysis. I wonder if the higher percentage of young democrat voters has more to do with higher turnout among young voters in ’08 than a demographic preference shift. I feel like Obama just got more 18-30 year-olds to vote, not that more young people than before are liberal.
   I have an Uncle who drove to a Nixon speech to protest Vietnam in his 20s, and gave 5K to the Bush ’00 run in his 50s. Young people have always tended become more conservative as they get older, right?
   Reference point: I’m 24 and vow this will never happen to me!
   -Brianne Jacobs

2. Bob Nunz 05/15/2009 - 1:57 pm

   Take a listen to the NPR report on this this morning.

3. Jimmy Mac 05/15/2009 - 3:20 pm  subscriber

   Young people have always tended become more conservative as they get older, right?

   Nope; not always. Some actually think for themselves, have a conscience and continue to resist the appeal of selfishness.

4. Joseph Jaglowicz 05/15/2009 - 5:30 pm  subscriber

   At 61, I’ve become more liberal/progressive over the years. I’ve had enough time to see the organizational BS in state and church.

5. Thomas Jacobs 05/15/2009 - 5:51 pm

   I hope my comment didn’t seem like a critique of the readership; rather it’s critique of the article’s analysis that something new is happening in America. It seems to me like the something new is that young people voted, not that more young people are liberal. -BJ

6. historyman 05/16/2009 - 10:38 am

   Brianne Jacobs,

   I think you’re right. I don’t have any stats handy, but have seen surveys that indicate young voters (1) didn’t always vote, and (2) aren’t reliable voters for a particular party. This past election, however, got a lot more of them voting: something of the change from years past.

   It is possible too that the 2000 election got many of them thinking, “Oh my gosh, I gotta vote next time because my vote may actually make a difference.” Again, no stats at hand, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2004 saw a sizable increase of young voters (though not necessarily voting for the Democratic Party). Enthusiasm for Obama might have brought the numbers higher last year.

7. Bob Nunz 05/16/2009 - 1:31 pm

   Folks will see the movemen tof youth through the prism ogf their own ideology – not history.
   That’s part of the problem of wh ywe have the submerging Church (see Bill D’s post on Cozzens in the Ex Corde Ecclesiae thread right below.)

8. Gabriel Austin 05/16/2009 - 3:11 pm

   A comment on the Notre Dame business from one of the younger generation:

   “Students at Notre Dame have been thrust to the front of a culture war that we didn’t ask for,” Angulo said. “It mars it in the sense that it’s not about our graduation ceremony anymore. It’s a political battle. We worked four years really hard to graduate with a degree.”

   Thank you Fr. Jenkins and the Board of Trustees.

9. Robert Dibdale 05/17/2009 - 8:29 am

   But what an opportunity it gives some administrators to declare their independence from the US Bishops.

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