Editor,
Some of us believe in the strength of our vote and how we contribute to American democracy. Some others don’t. Some others don’t care, a different kind of don’t. As part of the recent election, New Mexico Civic Engagement Partnership, a local domestic nonprofit, in collaboration with UNM students, conducted an exit poll of 198 voters at UNM on Nov. 6. We wanted to learn about the effectiveness of the media before an election and we wanted to understand the voters’ “comfort zone” in terms of candidates and issues.
Although nationally, young adults make up 21 percent of eligible voters, and nationally the turnout of this age group was decisive, it was smaller than in 2008. At UNM, the average voter between the ages of 18 and 29 is 20 years old. The vast majority of voters polled are from New Mexico, and 60 percent are women. Ethnicity is predominately Hispanic, and 66 percent of those polled had been contacted in some way up to five times before voting. The dominant source of information for this population is the Internet, followed closely by television. Ninety-four percent felt comfortable about candidates and issues before voting.
Interestingly, 70 percent were not eligible to vote in 2008. Of the 52 percent eligible to vote in 2010, only 39 percent did so. This is significant, given the huge shortfall of voters in New Mexico during the 2010 election.
The young adult voter in New Mexico cannot risk “invisibility” with candidates and policymakers. Too much is at stake, and there are major concerns in that population about student loan rates, health care, the Lottery Scholarship, education and getting a viable job right out of college. Oftentimes it’s the lack of follow-up that impacts these concerns, but voting does count.
Bottom line: Young adults think about their vote almost as much as older voters, but they respond differently to media. Voters between the ages of 18 and 20 are not as aware of issues and candidates, and do no consider themselves engaged with the process of staying informed and actually voting. There is a lot of work to do before 2016.
Joe’L Trujillo and Cindy Nava
New Mexico Civic Engagement Partnership
