Youths have played a contradictory role in the elections. The #YoSoy132 movement, which arose in protest in May for what it called media bias toward Peña Nieto, garnered national attention, but it had little impact on polling numbers. And in fact, the latest numbers from Mitofsky show that among voters ages 29 and under, Peña Nieto is the favored candidate. That can be attributed to two main factors:
First, many youths don't have a memory of the PRI in power; for them the ruling party is the PAN, so they don't fear a return to the "past." Also, the #YoSoy132 movement was centered in universities in the capital. Less than 28 percent of Mexicans actually attend college, meaning that the group is hardly representative of a “youth vote” in Mexico. But given the amount of attention they have received, even wooing three of the four candidates to a debate they organized, they could play an important “watchdog” role during the incoming administration.
