Moore's ballyhooed visit a bust at the ballot box

OREM — Michael Moore's speech at Utah Valley State College as part of his tour to rally college students against the Bush administration at the ballot box didn't register much of an impact in Utah, according to a Brigham Young University exit poll.

Despite the controversy generated by Moore's "Slacker Uprising Tour," BYU's survey of last month's election indicates the state's college-age voters — ages 18 to 24 — represented a mere 14 percent of the state's total vote — no increase over the 2000 election.

"That (percentage) is lower than their proportion of the population," said BYU political science professor Kelly Patterson, who oversaw the student-run exit poll.

But that doesn't mean that young adults in Utah are slackers compared to their counterparts in other states. And it doesn't mean the controversy surrounding Moore's appearance didn't spark political involvement among some students, he said.

Though Moore's efforts to elect Democratic Sen. John Kerry ended in close defeat, he claims victory for getting out the message to younger voters that their vote counts. "Contrary to all predictions and to tradition, more young adults voted in last week's election than in any other since 18-year-olds were given the right to vote in 1972," Moore said in a posting on his Web site. He cited data indicating 52 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds cast ballots in this year's general election.

But the statistics Moore cites, Patterson said, represent a larger demographic than what's traditionally considered to be student voters.

The data, complied by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) at the University of Maryland, found that voter turnout for 18- to 29-year-olds was up by 4.6 million voters from the 2000 election.

Since turnout increased for several age groups, however, the youth share of the electorate remained nearly the same as four years ago.

Also, the 25- to 29-year-old demographic included in CIRCLE's data includes young adults who are already into their careers rather than students still pursuing a degree.

"That 18-to-24 cohort is still trying to find out what role they're trying to assume in life," Patterson said. "So the question is, 'Does life at that stage involve political participation?' And the answer for most youth is still no."

Such indifference toward voting among young students — and reluctance of politicians to woo them — is the reason Moore launched his 63-city tour. His goal was to get 56 percent of the voting public to cast their votes Nov. 2.