Photo by Leah Sorensen
Students at Saint Paul Academy
and Summit School watch the election
results roll in at a watch party at their school.
Not all the ballots have been counted yet, but already the leading nonpartisan group that tracks youth voting is saying the youth turnout for the 2008 election is on track to be the second highest in the history of the country.
The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement estimates turnout to be as high as 54.5 percent this election, second only to the 55.4 percent turnout in 1972. It announced Nov. 5 that an estimated 21.6 million to 23.9 million 18- to 29-year-olds voted in 2008’s presidential election, an increase of at least 2.2 million from turnout in 2004, which also saw higher youth voter turnout than in 2000 and 1996.
Although many of them could not vote in this election, high school students all over the Twin Cities paid close attention to the elections and their reactions to Obama’s election reverberated through their schools.
Four students from around the Twin Cities report for ThreeSixty on the response of students from their schools: Harding High School in St. Paul, a predominantly Hmong school; Ubah Medical Academy in Hopkins, a charter school attended mostly by Somali and Ethiopian immigrant students; Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, predominantly African-American; and Benilde-St. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, a private Catholic school populated mostly by Surburban white students.
At Ubah, reporter Marian Ahmed couldn’t find a single supporter for Republican candidate John McCain. At Harding, reporter WaMeng Vang found some Hmong students — usually supporters of the Democratic party — supported McCain because of his experience. At Benilde-St. Margaret’s, reporter Devon FitzGerald found a mix of Republicans and Democrats, but both groups said they planned on paying close attention to politics from now on.
“I was very shocked and impressed because I did not think a black man could become a president. I initially thought that they would do something to cheat him, honestly I did not think America was ready for this,” said Aisha Medmud, a junior at Ubah Medical Academy.
“I think it’s amazing the U.S. can elect a president that they know nothing about,” said Darren Glover, a junior at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, and self-described “very opinionated” Republican.
At Harding, the three Hmong students interviewed said they planned to stay politically involved and shared the ideal that teens needed to pay attention to politics because elected officials need to keep their promises for the country to grow and prosper.
- East African immigrant students support Obama 100 percent, Ubah Medical Academy, predominantly an East African immigrant school in Hopkins, Minn., was buzzing with joy and excitement over the pervious nights elections Nov. 5. Not a single student at Ubah supported John McCain. Student were euphoric as they exchanged greetings and congrats. Every other sentence you heard in the hallways contained the phrase “We made history!”
- Harding reacts with silent anticipation: What's next? students ask, Barack Obama is the new President, and the reaction at Harding High School in St. Paul is eerie silence. Hmong students make up a little of more than fifty percent of Harding’s student body. Normally the Hmong community votes for the Democratic party, but Hmong students at Harding supported both candidates.
- Reactions to election evenly mixed at surburban Catholic school, It seemed that nearly half of the Catholic school students were upset their beloved McCain had lost: wearing red to support the support the Republican party, posting Facebook statuses questioning America’s future, and even threatening to move to Canada.But for every McCain supporter, there was an equally passionate Democrat at Benilde-St. Margaret’s.
Post new comment