Democracy Remixed Memo Series

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A series of memos and fact sheets released by the Black Youth Project of the University of Chicago, Black and Latino Youth: The Future of American Politics Memo Series focuses on the civic and political engagement of America’s youth, especially Black and Latino youth, and investigates their participation in electoral politics and how their unique life experiences shape their views toward politics.

Download the data below:

Download the methodology report (PDF) (350 KB)

Download the Wave 1 data (.dta) (November 2012 – December 2012) (2 MB)

Download the Wave 2 data (.dta) (April 2013 – May 2013) (873 KB)

Download the Wave 3 data (.dta) (December 2013 – January 2014) (756 KB)

Download the Wave 4 data (.dta) (June 2014) (2 MB)

Weighting Report:

There are two relevant weights included in each survey, “weight1” and “weight2.”

Weight1 is used to generalize to the entire population of 18-29 year-olds.  Weight1 adjusts for the oversampling of African Americans and Latinos, and gives the correct estimates for the national population.

Weight2 is used for analyzing particular racial/ethnic groups.  Weight2 should give more appropriate standard errors when looking at one particular group or comparing across groups.

Download memos below:

• What Young People Think About the Affordable Care Act: More than 80 percent of Black youth approve of the ACA, compared with 51.8  percent of Latino youth and 34.0 percent of white youth.

• Equal Protection? Race and Young People’s Attitudes Toward the Legal System: early three-quarters of Black Youth believe the legal system does not treat all groups equally, a rate considerably higher than that for white and Latino youth.
• The Effects of North Carolina’s New Electoral Reforms on Young People of Color: researchers consider the possible effects of these new restrictions on voter turnout, focusing specifically on young people of color.

• Immigration Reform and the Possibility of Black-Brown Coalitions among America’s Youth: Youth of color support a comprehensive approach to immigration reform at higher rates than white youth, who are more supportive of punitive measures and increased enforcement of existing law.

• Gun Violence and Public Opinion on Gun Control among America’s Young People: youth of color experience higher levels of gun violence and report greater support for increased gun restrictions

• Understanding the Latino Youth Vote in 2012: A comprehensive analysis of Latino youth engagement in the 2012 presidential election.

• Black and Latino Youth Disproportionately Affected by Voter Identification Laws in the 2012 Election: Voter identification laws are applied unevenly across racial groups and have significant discriminatory effects on Latino and Black youth.

• The Political Impact of Young People of Color in the 2012 Election: Youth again increased their presence at the voting booth, and this increase was driven largely by high levels of turnout among young Blacks and Latinos.

• The Impact of New Photo Identification Requirements on Young People of Color: Young people of color posses photo IDs at lower rates than whites. Therefore, they will be disproportionately demobilized by the recent spate of photo ID laws.

• Race, Youth, and the Gender Gap: There is a considerable gender gap in political behavior amongst Black youth. Young Black women turn out the vote at higher rates than young Black men, and hold more liberal views on political matters.

• President Obama and the Politics of Change: Black youth believe that significant changes have occurred during the Obama administration, but continue to believe that big change is needed in America.

• Youth, Race, and Partisanship: While young voters are often believed to be overwhelmingly Democratic, partisanship and vote choice vary considerably across racial groups.

• Youth, Race, and Voter Mobilization: An analysis of voting data shows that mobilization works to turn out voters. But when it comes to youth, especially among young blacks, both political parties are failing to mobilize significant numbers and the historic youth turnout in 2008 may not be repeated in 2012.

• Historic Turnout Among Black Youth in 2004 and 2008:An analysis of voting data examines how the historic youth voter turnout in 2008 among young blacks and Latinos could impact the 2012 election.

• The Racial Impact of Voter Identification Laws in the 2012 Election: Examines the impact of recent legislation in five states that will require voters to display government-issued photo identification before voting in the 2012 election.