Voter turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds is expected to rise in the 2004 general election.

“Everyone’s involved in 2004,” said Louis Kishkunas, president of the ISU College Republicans. “People watched in 2000. This election is different.”

In the 2000 general election, 42 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted nationwide, while in 2002, only 23 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement Web site. Conversely, more than 70 percent of citizens nationwide over 25 voted in the 2000 election, and 56 percent voted in 2002.

“Polls this year are saying a much greater percentage of young voters will vote this year,” said Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science. “About half [of young voters] are saying they will vote.”

The state of Iowa fares better than average in regard to young voter turnout.

In 2000, 50 percent of Iowans age 18 to 24 voted, while 74 percent over age 25 voted, according to the center.

The state with the highest youth turnout, according to the center, was Alaska, with 63 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voting in 2000. Hawaii is last, with only 22 percent youth turnout.

Overall, young voters are heading to the polls in far fewer numbers than youth in 1972, when 18-year-olds were given the right to vote. According to the center, youth voting declined by 13 percent nationwide between 1972 and 2000, while in Iowa, youth turnout dropped 18 percent.

“Bush has been a great unifier,” said Ryan Friedrichs, campaign director of the Young Voter Alliance. “People either love him or absolutely hate him.”

Friedrichs said his organization has conducted research into what gets young people to the polls.

“We’ve found face-to-face communication works best,” Friedrichs said. “We go into clubs, basketball courts, wherever young people are hanging out and where they live. It’s such a close election.”

Friedrichs said volunteers for his organization have knocked on more than 250,000 doors in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and New Mexico. He said the organization has also made a few stops in Iowa.

The choices that young voters have to make this year are different than what previous generations were faced with, he said.

“Young people are twice as likely to be unemployed right now,” Friedrichs said. “Eighty-three percent of the troops in Iraq are under 30. Young people are baring the brunt of a poor economy and a war.”

The problem with getting young voters to the polls has not been disinterest or laziness, Friedrichs said.

“Young people have always volunteered in high numbers,” he said. “They just never took that initiative to the polls. I think this year will be different.”