WASHINGTON, June 30, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
YOUTH IS SERVED
Profile America — Thursday, June 30th. On this date 45 years ago, the sun set on our old concept of coming of age. The 26th amendment to the Constitution became law effective July 1, lowering the age requirement for voting in national elections from 21 to 18 years old. In 1972, the amendment added some 11 million voters to the electorate. Today, there are over 14.5 million young Americans age 18 to 20. In the last presidential election, more than 37 percent of them went to the polls, down from more than 44 percent four years earlier. In the 2014 congressional election, only some 1.6 million, or about 12 percent of the citizen youth, cast ballots. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.
Sources:
26th Amendment/accessed 4/20/2016: http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/37022
New voters/accessed 4/20/2016: http://www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment
Youth population: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPSYASEXN
2014 voting: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2014/Table02_1.xls
2012 voting: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2012/Table02_1.xls
2008 voting: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2008/Table%2001.xls
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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