DECLARE YOURSELF ANTICIPATES RECORD YOUTH TURNOUT FOR SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARIES

On-line poll finds Economy and Jobs as top issue for young voters

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 31, 2008) – Declare Yourself, the national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter registration initiative, today predicted record-level participation by 18-to-29-year-olds in the Feb.5 primaries, extending this year’s historic youth voting trend and expanding young people’s influence on the presidential campaign.

Based on a new on-line survey and focus groups conducted by Declare Yourself, concerns about the economy are particularly driving young people to the polls. A current Quick Poll on declareyourself.com found that the Economy and Jobs was the number one issue by more than a 2-to-1 ratio over the War in Iraq, followed by Health Care and the Environment.

“They know that their votes really count this time around. Young voters are burying the old assumption that they are too cynical or apathetic to participate in the electoral process,” said Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director of Declare Yourself. “Young people are telling us that they’re seeking positive solutions to these key issues and they’re turned off by negative campaigning.”

Morgenstern added that Declare Yourself has received a burst of youth voter registrations through its on-line form in January, as young people sought to meet state registration deadlines to vote in the Super Tuesday primaries.

Declare Yourself, founded by television pioneer Norman Lear, further confirmed that it has registered well over a quarter-million young people for the 2008 elections using Declare Yourself’s simple, online registration form. This accelerated registration pace puts Declare Yourself well on its way to exceed its target of 2 million registrations by the general election.

The 50-state online form, which takes less than two minutes to fill out, is available on DeclareYourself.com and dozens of affiliated sites, including MySpace.com/declareyourself, Yahoo.com, Facebook.com and Votolatino.org.

Declare Yourself registered 1.2 million young voters in the 2004 campaign, helping raise participation from 18-to-25-year-olds by 11 percent over the 2000 election. 2004 tallied the highest levels of youth voter participation in thirty years, but still the lowest of all eligible demographic groups.

About Declare Yourself
Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-29-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election. Using the power of strategic media partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, the sports arena, and most importantly, mobile and Internet technology, Declare Yourself's campaign blankets the landscape of popular culture, as well as universities and high schools, with a simple, clear message: REGISTER and VOTE!

For the 2008 primary season and general election, Declare Yourself is enlisting an unprecedented array of partners including Cricket Wireless, Yahoo!, MySpace, Google, UWIRE, Good Magazine, Clear Channel, Comedy Central, American Eagle Outfitters, Harper Collins, Starbucks, and Voto Latino. Easy registration is available through www.declareyourself.com or by texting VOTE to 55355 on your mobile phone.

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