Emerging Trends in Youth Voter Behavior: Social Networking Websites and the 2008 General Election

Presented at the Southern Political Science Association Conference

Social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube give young adults the opportunity to construct intricate communication links that personally address their ‘Friends’ and other potential voters. By participating in these virtual social networks, candidates have the ability to provide information about themselves and their policies, as well as make prospective voters aware of registration rules and precinct locations. In effect, candidates are able to generate opportunities for interactivity between themselves and untapped youth constituencies in ways that were not previously possible or as potentially effective.

Utilizing original data from surveys and focus groups, we address whether these efforts on behalf of candidates is useful in translating potential youth voters into active political participants: By establishing contact with individuals via this medium, were candidates able to increase youth voter turnout in the 2008 general election, or were those contacted already predisposed to voting? To test our hypothesis, we employ a simultaneous equation model. The dependent variable in the first equation tests whether the candidates contacted potential youth voters on social networking sites. We use an index of explanatory variables, “including parent’s political interest, political organization membership, interest in public affairs, and voting history” to understand the characteristics of those youth who were contacted and those who were not. The second equation uses turnout as the dependent variable and contact as the explanatory variable along with a summary variable that includes those characteristics mentioned in equation one. We systematically revisit our survey participants during the course of the 2008 election.