What is perhaps less widely known is that political apathy characterizes young people in nearly every demographic category. And what has not been widely noted is that young people are less responsive to the stimulus of campaign events. Since early November, the Shorenstein Center has been conducting weekly national polls designed to measure public attention to the campaign. The great disparity between young and old cuts across all demographic groups. In fact, no group of young people attained even the average attention level of older adults.
Young people are also less responsive to the stimulus of the campaign.
During the period between the Iowa caucuses and Super Tuesday, when the campaign was most intense, the number of older adults paying relatively close attention rose by 22 percentage points. Among adults under 30, the rise was only 16 percentage points, even though their attention level before Iowa was far lower. Some observers believe the Internet will be the stimulus to greater campaign participation by young people. The early evidence is not encouraging. The Shorenstein Center polls indicate that young people are no more likely than older adults to engage the campaign through the Internet despite the fact that they make substantially greater use of the Internet for other purposes.