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Beyond Voting

Following the record voter turnout among young voters, the National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement decided to look beyond the polling place. How do young people view political engagement? Do they consider themselves politically engaged and how do they demonstrate their political views? Has political engagement changed for this generation? How can that political engagement be harnessed and directed in future elections?

The Institute of Politics answered some of those questions in their fall 2005 national survey of college students (http://www.iop.harvard.edu). But the survey provided a snapshot — we wanted to look at the question over history and into the future.

In November of 2005, the National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement brought together a panel of academics and researchers to examine the diverse political activity of college students, outside of the voting booths.

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