Voter turnout in the United States presidential elections
Recent decades have seen increasing concern over the fact that youth voting turnout is consistently lower than turnout among older generations. Several programs to increase the rates of voting among young people—such as MTV's "Rock the Vote" (founded in 1990) and the "Vote or Die" initiative (starting in 2012)—may have marginally increased turnouts of those between the ages of 18 and 25 to vote. However, the "Stanford Social Innovation Review" found no evidence of a decline in youth voter turnout. In fact, they argue that "Millennials are turning out at similar rates to the previous two generations when they face their first elections."
Youth vote in the United States
Because the youth population is so large, many campaigns try to gain their support during elections. Efforts to capture the youth vote include registration drives, outreach and specifically youth-friendly policy platforms. An example of a fairly successful voter registration drive would be the "Reggie the Rig" drive by the Republican National Committee in the 2004 election. With a goal of registering three million new voters, the "Reggie the Rig" bus travelled to college campuses, a place to reach thousands of youth at once. During the same election, the Democrats held their own campus visits, but instead of focusing on registration, the Kerry campaign spread the word about their youth policy platform called Compact with the Next Generation. The Democrats also placed targeted ads on TV during shows such as "Saturday Night Live" and "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. This targeted campaign on TV has often been supplemented with outreach through the internet in modern campaigns. New technology, the internet especially, is making it easier for candidates to reach the youth. It has been found that "young people who encounter campaign information on their own accord and spend time interacting with political material may come to see themselves interested in politics."