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Percentage of eligible adults who voted <br /> <br />70%' <br />60%' <br />$0% <br /> <br />40%' <br /> <br />30% <br />20% <br />10% <br />0% <br /> <br />1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 <br /> <br />· All eligible adults <br />· 18-24 year-olds <br /> <br />How do we know that civic-mindedness by young adults is on the decline? <br /> <br />First, consider the national data on voting: <br /> <br />· Young people today have grown up in an age of nonstop political scandals: <br />Watergate, Iran-Contra, Whitewater, and President Clinton's impeachment <br />hearings have left them with a cynical view of politics and political parties. <br />· Since 1971 when the 26t~ Amendment lowered the voting age to 18, fewer <br />and fewer young adults have chosen to exercise that right. <br /> <br />· They vote in much lower percentages than the overall adult population, as <br />shown in this graph. <br /> <br />· The only positive movement on the graph is the slight bump up to 43% of <br />young adults voting in 1992, due to the candidacy of baby boomer Bill Clinton <br />and MTV's intensive effort that year to get out the vote. <br /> <br />· The percentage dropped again in 1996, when just 32% of adults 18-24 Years <br />old voted; only 49% were even registered to vote. Final figures for the 2000 <br />election are not yet available. <br /> <br />Source of voter turnout graph: National Association of Secretaries of State, <br />New Millennium Project Report, 1999, drawing on data of the U.S. Bureau of <br />the Census. <br /> <br /> <br />