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."
Young Voters for the President
Rietz identified that young voters were enthusiastic about some of Nixon's policies – such as ending military conscription – but ambivalent about the president himself and he, therefore, embarked on an effort to bridge the gap between the two. Rietz also determined that non-college youth were more likely to support Nixon than college-enrolled youth and that the former group significantly outnumbered the latter. Outreach efforts by Young Voters for the President have been credited with helping Nixon capture 48 percent of 18 to 24 year-old voters, and 52 percent of under 30 voters, in the 1972 presidential contest. Nixon ultimately won that election with roughly 61-percent of the popular vote and 97-percent of the electoral vote.