WASHINGTON — When the Democratic presidential candidates take the stage for a debate today in Boston, they will be facing a new kind of questioner.
Sponsored by Rock the Vote, a nonprofit group founded by rock stars in 1990 to "make political participation cool," the forum will feature young people asking questions in person and online. Watch-the-debate parties, voter-registration contests and tallies on which candidate provided the best video also have been organized as part of the "America Rocks the Vote" event.
"It sends a message to young Americans that their concerns are worthy of a forum," said Anderson Cooper, host of the debate, which airs on CNN at 4 p.m. PST.
But if history is any guide, this and other efforts underway to interest young people in the presidential campaign and increase their turnout at the polls next year face an uphill struggle.
In 1972, just after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, 55% of those age 18 to 24 and eligible to vote did so, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland.
In the years since, according to the center, turnout by this age group in presidential elections has generally declined, topping the 50% mark only once -- in 1992, when MTV-savvy candidate Bill Clinton was first on the ballot. In the 2000 election, 42% of eligible voters age 18 to 24 cast ballots; the figure for those 25 and over was 66%, according to the center.
The core reasons that young people avoid the polls, experts say, mirror the complaints heard among some older voters -- a sense that both parties are more alike than not; a belief that one vote will make little difference; a distaste for the confusing thicket of rules for registering.
Above all, there is a distrust of political rhetoric. "Young people have grave difficulties believing anything politicians say," said Murray Print, a civics education specialist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Undaunted, the political parties and national advocacy groups are launching ever more creative methods to encourage voter participation by young people.
The World Wrestling Entertainment group has teamed up with the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and other more traditional organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, to try to register 2 million new voters between the ages of 18 to 30 by the 2004 presidential election. The program is called Smackdown Your Vote.
