And 15 percent voted in the 1998 congressional elections.
Young people vote less than any other age group.
But it hasn't always been that way. A year after the national voting age dropped from 21 to 18, and after years of Vietnam War protests, college students went to the polls en masse for the 1972 presidential election. Despite the largest youth voter turnout in history, McGovern lost to President Richard Nixon. Since then, the number of teen and twentysomething voters has steadily declined. Mobility of youth a factor Brian Elms, director of the National Youth in Action Campaign, which provides program and financial support for young people who want to improve their communities, said that he knows why.