America's Youth | Young People Are Interested in Politics

Stephanie McLeod was elected to public office at the age of 20.

On Nov. 3, 1998, she won 16,251 votes and a seat on her county’s nine-member Mosquito Control Board. “I went and spoke in public forums, and I had ads in the local newspapers,” Ms. McLeod says. Her campaign slogan attracted instant attention: “Elect New Blood.”

That doesn’t fit the popular image of Generation X and Generation Y, who are known today for their political apathy: voter turnout is at a record low, and pop-culture attempts to boost participation have failed to incite widespread interest...

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