ABSTRACT

This chapter demonstrates that the concerns of young adults are indeed quite distinct from those of their elders. The 2000 National Annenberg Election Study is particularly useful for examining age differences on issues because it has such a large sample size and because over the course of the year many issues were asked about. Based on the economic stage in life, young people are the most supportive of government policies that will reduce income differences. A democratically elected government should be looking out for the interests of all the people. The evidence from recent U.S. elections, as well as elections from other established democracies, indicates that more young people voting would definitely make a difference because the youth vote often favors different candidates and parties. According to David Mayhew, most politicians place reelection as the highest goal, and in order to reach it people engage in advertising and credit claiming aimed at the primary constituency.