Campaign Trail

2010 Political Malaise Deepest Among Young Women

By Colleen Flaherty

WeNews correspondent

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Obama's visit to "The Daily Show" was one sign of the sinking youth interest in the midterm elections. Another is what's going on at a political mentoring program for high school girls. In 2009 it received 30,000 applications. This year it was 1,000 at most.

(WOMENSENEWS)--In an effort to reach the young voters that rallied behind his campaign for change two years ago, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to appear on the parody news program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Oct. 27.

In the 2010 midterm elections, the enthusiasm of young voters pales in comparison to the 2008 campaign season.

Running Start is one more sign of that.

The nonpartisan Washington group, founded in 2007, runs five programs each year to get high school girls involved in politics.

After the 2008 election, the response was overwhelming. The group attracted 30,000 applications for 50 spaces in its July 2009 program, says Jessica Grounds, executive director and co-founder of the organization.

A year later?

"It was about 1,000 applications, if that," said Grounds.

Voter interest typically increases as Election Day draws closer, but a recent Harvard study shows younger voters defying that.

In October, 27 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 said they would definitely vote in the midterm elections, down from 36 percent last November.

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