A new report says Oregon had the highest turnout of under-30 voters in the nation in the 2010 election. Since those voters skew Democratic in their voting, their relatively high turnout could have played a role in limiting Democratic losses in this state last year.



The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University calculated that 35.7 percent of under-30 eligible voters in Oregon participated in last November's elections, compared to just 24 percent nationally.



The center said that exit polling showed younger voters nationally favored Democratic congressional candidates while older voters sided with Republicans.



In part, the higher turnout among young voters in Oregon is keyed to the fact that Oregon has long had one of the highest voter participation rates in the nation. Oregon's turnout among over 30 eligible voters was 61 percent, almost 10 percentage points above the national average. (These percentages are based on the total population of people eligible to vote if they all registered; because of different state registration laws, academics prefer to compare states looking at the population of "eligible" voters).



However, Henry Kraemer of The Bus Project, a progressive group that works to register and organize young people, said the gap in turnout in Oregon between under-30 voters and over-30 voters has narrowed significantly in recent years. He noted that in 2006, the gap in voting among the two age groups was about 10 percentage points greater than it was in 2010.



Kraemer said groups such as The Bus Project, the Oregon Student Association and Our Oregon have all stepped up their voter registration efforts among young people in recent years.



Republicans made major gains throughout the country in the last election but did less well in Oregon. Republicans did pick up eight legislative seats but did not win any additional congressional seats. And Democrat John Kitzhaber won by just 1.5 percentage points over Republican Chris Dudley.



The youth vote could have been yet another reason for his close victory.

