Crossposted at Future Majority Last week CIRCLE released a new fact sheet on youth voting in the 2006 election (PDF), and while many of the findings simply confirmed what earlier exit polling already revealed (i.e. increased youth voter turnout and a huge, about 2-1, advantage for Democrats in voting), the report contained one bit of information that really grabbed my attention:  

In addition to a shift in voting behavior, exit polls also indicate a change in political party identification among young voters. In 2004, regardless of age, voters were evenly split between the Republicans, Democrats and Independents. However, in 2006, young voters diverged from older voters with a sizable plurality of young voters reporting they were members of the Democratic Party. Forty-three percent of young voters identified as Democrats, 31% as Republican, and 26% as Independent

This six-percentage shift towards identification with the Democratic Party amongst young people is pretty significant, in my opinion.  This says to me that the cynical, and incorrect, notion that "there's no difference between the parties" is starting to subside, which could have huge long-term ramifications if Democrats were to focus on the issues facing this group and continue to push this idea into the dustbin of history. Given how little is being spent on the left to woo this demographic, let alone train members of the younger generation(s) to become political leaders, the number seems even more significant, but I can't help but think that more attention and a lot more financial resources would lead an even larger number of young people to identify as Dems. It appears to me, at this point and time, that we may never know. Despite all of the good news on the youth vote front, I haven't seen any evidence that the larger financial backers of progressive causes have taken notice.