33.5 percent of registered voters between the ages of 18-29 who do not vote say they don’t go to the polls because they’re too busy. Another 17.2 percent say they aren’t interested in voting or believe their vote does not count.
The polling was conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.
CIRCLE also confirmed that young people are less likely to show up to a midterm election than to a presidential election. Four out of five registered young voters turned out for the 2012 presidential election, but less than half voted in the 2010 midterms.
In comparison, 25.2 percent of non-voters over 30 said they were too busy to vote, while 16.7 percent said they were not interested in voting.
Twice as many young people said they had registration problems—5.5 percent of young people versus 2.6 percent of voters over 30.
Lack of enthusiasm for politics among young people is a well-known phenomenon, targeted recently by Rock The Vote’s “Turn out for what” ad, featuring Lil Jon, a giant joint, and Lena Dunham sans pants.
h/t Huffington Post
