GOP wouldn't have lost if it hadn't've been for those meddling kids

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 8:40 AM on November 8, 2006.

According to Young Democrats of America, the youth vote was a huge boost to the Democratic victory:

Young people increased their share of the overall electorate last night to 13%, up from 11% in 2002. In states like MT, it was as high as 17%. Additionally, according to CNN exit polls, young people voted for Democrats with an impressive 60% to the Republican 38%. For other ages, it was a 51% Democrat and 47% Republican split. Young people giving Democrats a 10% advantage over other age demographics follows trends we saw in 2004.

Here's the breakdown:

Total Democrat Republican

18-29 60% 38%

30-44 53% 45%

45-59 53% 45%

60 and Older 51% 47%

For those who didn't get the memo on 2004, young people did come out to vote then as well, despite numerous reports to the contrary.

But the thing that really soils the drawers of Washington conservatives isn't yesterday's pounding, but the fact that America's post-born is very, very young and will be voting for a very, very long time.

*BONUS FACT: Winston Churchill never said any variation of: "if you aren't a liberal at 20 you have no heart and if you aren't a conservative at 40 you have no brain."

In fact, Churchill scholar Paul Addison wrote: "Surely Churchill can't have used the words attributed to him. He'd been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35!"

Tagged as: democrats, election06, youth vote

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.