Young Voters in America: Attitudes and Realities During the 2004 Elections; 18to35, Smackdown Your Vote!, The Graduate School of Political Management, and The New Voters Project To Present Findings.

WASHINGTON -- During this week's GOP convention in New York, a group of national organizations and prominent academic institutions will present a provocative story about the state of young voters in America and key Election 2004 battleground states.

At a press conference to be held Thursday, September 2nd, in New York City's Hotel Pennsylvania, 18to35, Smackdown Your Vote!, George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, and The New Voters Project will release reports that give insight into how young voters are likely to lean in the November Election. The specific reports include:

--18to35 will release its final set of swing state profiles of young adults (Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee), providing essential data on the condition of young adult's lives: unemployment, un-insurance, education, income, voting rates, among other data. 18to35 will also reveal the condition of young voters nationally.

--The Graduate School of Political Management, the home of the prestigious Battleground 2004 poll, will discuss the results of the latest poll, with an emphasis on young voter attitudes.

--Smackdown Your Vote! will provide important, up-to-date information on the 18-30 Voter Issues Paper, which provides candidates with the questions that young voters want answered.

--The New Voters Project will detail their success in registering voters across the country as well as their grassroots efforts to mobilize voters in six key states

Who:    Jonathan Zaff, President of 18to35,
        John "Bradshaw" Layfield, WWE Superstar and
         Smackdown Your Vote! Chairman
        Ivory and Mark Henry, WWE Superstars
        Chris Nowinski, WWE Political Correspondent
        John Korndraki, Graduate School of Political Management
        Ivan Frishberg, Executive Director, New Voters Project.

What:   Press briefing on the attitudes and realities of young voters.

When:   Thursday, September 2, 2004 at 11am

Where:  The Martinique on Broadway - 49 W 32nd St (two-blocks from
         Madison Square Garden and the Hotel Pennsylvania)

About the Presenting Organizations:

18to35 is a national non-partisan policy organization dedicated to Getting Out the Voice of young adults and engaging them in the political process. We bring new voices and new ideas to national policy debates, provide opportunities for young Americans to voice their opinions, and equip young Americans with the tools to turn their ideas into concrete action. To learn more about 18to35 and 18to35's programs, visit http://www.18to35.org.

Smackdown Your Vote! is a nonpartisan approach to getting young people involved in the political process and registered to vote. Through Smackdown Your Vote!, World Wrestling Entertainment has collaborated with many non-profit, non-partisan organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, the Youth Vote Coalition, Rock The Vote, 18to35, the National Association of Secretaries of State, the National Foundation of Women Legislators, and Project Vote Smart to engage 18-to-30-year-olds in the political process. For information on the program go to smackdownyourvote.com.

The Graduate School of Political Management is a division of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University, which offers a Masters of Arts degree in political management. The first professional school of politics, the GSPM offers a unique curriculum, integrating the analytic science and the practical art of politics. Course work encompasses the fields of lobbying, campaigning, corporate public affairs, issues management, leadership, fund-raising, environmental politics, and quantitative strategy. The School was founded upon the belief that a profession is emerging in politics, uniting these separate fields in a community bound by an increasingly sophisticated pool of common techniques.

The New Voters Project is a grassroots, peer-to-peer young voter mobilization initiative now running in 6 targeted states and in a number of expansion states as well. We're running the largest non-partisan, non-profit field campaign in electoral history to get people our age registered to vote and engaged in political choices that will affect our lives for years to come.