Scarborough Study Illustrates Young Voters' Social Media Habits, Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Political Party Affiliation

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the 2012 presidential election gears up to be a suspenseful race, young people across the country are looking forward to having their voices heard and their votes counted. Young Voters are defined by consumer market research firm Scarborough as American adults aged 18-24 who say they are registered to vote in the district of their residence. The Scarborough survey asks participants if they are registered to vote and Young Voters make up ten percent of this registered voter population.

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In this new study from Scarborough, Young Voters are revealed to be much more social media savvy, more evenly spread across the political spectrum and more racially and ethnically diverse than all self-identified registered voters.

Young Voters are much more active on social media than all registered voters, nationally. According to Scarborough, nearly three quarters (72%) of Young Voters have used social media via internet in the past 30 days or on their smartphones, as compared with all registered voters, 45% of whom have used social media in the same time period. Young Voters are also 12% more likely to have made an internet purchase in the past 12 months, more than twice as likely (131%) to watch video clips on their smartphones and 73% more likely than all registered voters to use search engines on their smartphones.

Nationally, 31% of registered voters consider themselves to be Democrats, 28% Republicans, 31% Independent and 9% None of These. Young Voters, however, see a sharp increase in the None category and a slight decrease in the Republican category. 31% of Young Voters consider themselves to be Democrats, 22% Republicans, 31% Independents and 16% None of These.

Young Voters demonstrate much higher diversity than all registered voters. 18% of Young Voters are Hispanic and 59% are White (non-Hispanic), 15% Black (non-Hispanic) and 8% Asian/Other (non-Hispanic). By comparison, among all registered voters: 10% are Hispanic, 75% White, 11% Black and 4% Asian/Other.

Candidates still have their work cut out for them in order to win over the Young Voters. Though some young people report that they are registered to vote and do, in fact, identify with a single political party, many are just reaching voting age and still making up their minds. The top local markets for 18-24 year olds, are: Salt Lake City (18% of adults); Syracuse, NY (17%); El Paso, TX, Harlingen, TX, Fresno, CA and Bakersfield, CA (16%); San Diego and Rochester, NY (15%); Oklahoma City and Norfolk, VA (14%).

Continue the conversation or share your opinions with Scarborough over Twitter by reaching out to @ScarboroughInfo using hashtag #YoungVoters.

For more charts and graphs about Young Voters visit www.scarborough.com.

This data is from Scarborough USA, Release 1 2011. Scarborough measures 210,000 adults aged 18+ annually across a wide variety of media, lifestyle, shopping and demographic categories.

For more information regarding this or other Scarborough studies, please contact Brad Sherer at brad.sherer@scarborough.com.

About Scarborough Research

Scarborough (www.scarborough.com, info@scarborough.com) measures American life. Our consumer insights reflect shopping patterns, media usage across platforms, and lifestyle trends for adults. Media professionals and marketers use Scarborough insights to make smarter marketing/business decisions on things like ad placement, multicultural targeting, and sponsorship opportunities. The company's core syndicated consumer insight studies in 77 Top-Tier Markets, its Multi-Market Study and its national USA+ Study are Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited. Other products and services include Scarborough Mid-Tier Local Market Studies, Hispanic Studies and Custom Research Solutions. Scarborough measures 2,000 consumer categories and serves a broad client base that includes marketers, advertising agencies, print and electronic media (broadcast and cable television, radio stations), sports teams and leagues and out-of-home media companies. Surveying more than 210,000 adults annually, Scarborough is a joint venture between Arbitron Inc. (www.arbitron.com) and The Nielsen Company (www.nielsen.com).

SOURCE Scarborough Research