On Election Day November 2, a record turnout in the 18-24 age group is expected. Both men and women in that age group name the economy and education among their top three issues, according to a survey conducted by Grand Valley State University Assistant Professor of Economics Sonia Dalmia.
The survey was conducted by Dalmia's gender and economics class at Grand Valley. Dalmia's research into gender differences in work, education and marriage has received international media attention. Dalmia and her students conducted the survey of nearly 5,000 Grand Valley students from October 13-27. The purpose of the survey was to investigate gender differences among young voters.
Her survey shows:
- 93 percent of the students are registered to vote, and of these, 90 percent are planning to vote in the upcoming election. There was no difference by gender in the number of students registered to vote and planning to vote.
- For women, the top issues are education, health care and social welfare, and state of the economy (in order of preference). For men, the top three choices are foreign affairs and defense, education, and state of the economy. Social issues such as same-sex marriage, civil liberties and stem-cell research were of no importance to either gender. Moreover, neither gender placed any importance on who their Supreme Court justices would be.
- Bush has a 10-point lead over Kerry among the males. For women there is a tie between Bush and Kerry. There is also a strong preference for Senator Kerry among the minority population polled.
The issue of gender differences in voting behavior and policy attitudes has been a recurrent theme in social science literature and political commentary in United States. Gender gaps have been observed for example in turnout rates, partisan identification, domestic and foreign policy issues and evaluations of elected officials, Dalmia said. While discussions of a gender gap in electoral politics have become commonplace, political activity in 18 to 24-year-olds remains an understudied area. When young voters are mentioned at all, they are often portrayed as disengaged individuals lacking interest in politics and a sense of political efficacy.
"Young voters as a potential voting group need to be recognized for their size especially in light of the closeness of the 2000 presidential elections," Dalmia said.
Dalmia hopes to use the survey data to examine how far and why men and women differ in their levels of civic engagement and political preferences. She also hopes to examine political knowledge, participation and attitudes of youth to arrive at a better understanding of the social, economic and demographic structure of political activity in 18-24 year olds.
