How old were you when you first voted for President?

[Nema98]

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.

[Derleth]

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.

[joyfool]

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.

[Nema98]

@PSXer

I’m 26 and I’ve never voted in any election

All politicians are phonies

Preach it brother!!!

[Johnny_Ace]

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.

[Johnny_Ace]

@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.

[Hari_Seldon]

24 in 1960, although I had voted before.

[computergeek]

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?)

[ads95]

20 in the 1992 election

[ekedolphin]

I was 18 when I voted in the 2000 presidential election. I’ve voted in each one since.

[Hey_Hey_Paula]

I turned 18 a few days before the 1980 general election. (Voted against Reagan, to no avail.)

[septimus]

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.

[Rhiannon8404]

19 - the 1988 election was the first presidential election I voted it, but not my first time voting.

[BigT]

23. I missed the first one due to college and not knowing where I needed to go to vote.

My first vote was for Obama.

[Johanna]

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.