# How old were you when you first voted for President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 1, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633 "2016-03-01T14:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/61 "2016-03-26T00:03:29Z")
21 in 2008. I could have maybe voted in 2004, but I still 17 in November 2004 and just a month shy of my 18th. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/62 "2016-03-26T01:33:21Z")
I was born in 1984, so I first voted in the 2002 midterms and then for Kerry in 2004. I have voted in every election since. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/63 "2016-03-26T02:03:03Z")
My first election, at 20, was a vote for the elder Bush in '88. Since then, I’ve voted for a democrat ever since and have yet to miss a one. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/64 "2016-03-26T06:15:27Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I’m 26 and I’ve never voted in any election > > All politicians are phonies Preach it brother!!! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/65 "2016-03-26T06:34:32Z")
I wasn’t very politically active until my first Presidential election at age 20 (I voted for Reagan in '84)…then Bush (twice), then Clinton, then Gore, then Dubyah (yeah, I know, that’s the one I’m least proud of by far, but I was supremely unimpressed by Kerry and didn’t know what a crime the W administration was yet), then Obama twice. Hillary’s next, and my mind isn’t going to change barring an act of God. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/66 "2016-03-26T06:41:04Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Well… my first Presidential election was the 1992 election, but that wasn’t the first election I voted in by a long shot. IIRC, the first election I voted in was the 1990 mid-term election for pretty much everything BUT President. > > That’s the problem- the elections you vote in (assuming you vote as often as you can) may slot into different categories based on where your birthdate is in relation to the elections. I was born just before a Presidential election, so my 18th birthday came up almost squarely between Presidential elections, but right before a big mid-term election. > > I’d think that maybe there should be a companion poll- maybe a “how much time elapsed between registering to vote and actually voting in your first election” type poll, with values for like “\<1 month”, “1-6 months”, “6-12” months, “\> 12 months”. You think that’s bad? I was born ON Election day…the polls had just closed when I was popped out into this cold world. LBJ ended up winning his only Presidential election. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/67 "2016-03-26T19:14:33Z")
24 in 1960, although I had voted before. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/68 "2016-03-26T22:13:49Z")
I think I voted in the 1984 election. Since I was born in early 1963, I was only 17 in the 1980 election. As a child of conservative parents, I toed the line and voted for Reagan and liked him a lot. I’ve actually moved left to the center as I’ve gotten older. I still am a Republican and consider myself a moderate, but I can no longer vote for a nutty party. However, I only started voting for the other guys with Obama’s second term (I guess 2012?) ---
**Author:** ![ads95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5daacb/32.png) [@ads95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ads95)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/69 "2016-03-26T23:38:27Z")
20 in the 1992 election ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/70 "2016-03-27T01:15:54Z")
I was 18 when I voted in the 2000 presidential election. I’ve voted in each one since. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/71 "2016-03-27T02:06:48Z")
I turned 18 a few days before the 1980 general election. (Voted against Reagan, to no avail.) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/72 "2016-03-27T02:35:52Z")
Many of you are stealth-bragging about your youth! … > [@Chronos](#): > > It seems like the better age categories would be every four years: 18-21, 22-25, 26-29, and so on. There’s no meaningful difference between someone who first voted at 21 and someone who first voted at 18, assuming they both started on Presidential elections: Both voted the first chance they got. Several in the thread voted at age 22-24 _at their first legal opportunity_. I’m also in that group. Although I voted (for George McGovern) when first old enough, I’ve missed many or most of the elections since. Clinton in '92 is the only one I have a distinct memory of. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/73 "2016-03-27T05:22:17Z")
19 - the 1988 election was the first presidential election I voted it, but not my first time voting. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/74 "2016-03-27T05:33:35Z")
1. I missed the first one due to college and not knowing where I needed to go to vote. My first vote was for Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633/75 "2016-04-04T00:47:03Z")
I so wanted to take advantage of the voting age having been lowered, but I couldn’t, because they only lowered it 3 years. I turned 18 less than a year after the 1976 election, so I had to wait for the 1980 election, by which time I was 21 anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-voted-for-president/747633.md?page=3)