Juston Rose, who backs Republican George W. Bush for president, would rather students vote Democratic than not go to the polls at all.

"We're focusing on registering voters and getting out Republican voters on Election Day," said Rose, a member of Students for Bush at Virginia Commonwealth University. "I would rather the student made the mistake of voting for Kerry than make the mistake of not voting at all," said Rose, who also belongs to College Republicans.

Rose, 21, will cast his first ballot for president on Nov. 2. To him, the election is about the future.

"National defense, education and Social Security are what students are looking at," Rose said last weekend during a break of an executive board meeting of the College Republican Federation of Virginia. "They want to make sure that our children have the opportunity to grow up in the same great country as they did."

More than 60 College Republicans from around Virginia met at the University of Richmond on a gray Saturday eight days ago to share strategies about their push to re-elect Bush.

"They are some of the most energetic supporters of the president," said Ken Hutcheson, a Virginia consultant to the Bush-Cheney campaign. "Everywhere you go for President Bush, whether at rallies or organizational meetings, you've got college kids who are enthusiastic about the election."

College-age voters are taking an active role in this year's election. Young adults represent a key electoral block for the Bush and John Kerry campaigns, which have been actively recruiting and working with those in their teens and 20s.

About 13 percent of Virginians are between the ages of 18 and 24. During the nail-biter presidential election of 2000, 49 percent of those youngest voters went to the polls in Virginia, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. That turnout was slightly above the national figure.

Analysts and activists expect that rate to soar this year, reversing the decline in turnout of the young since 1972, the first time 18-year-olds could vote in a presidential election.

From a waffle breakfast at the University of Mary Washington to show how Kerry "waffles on the issues," according to an organizer to rallying fellow members of Bush's college fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, young GOP supporters are mobilizing to turn out the vote for their man.

Similarly, young Democrats are working the phones, canvassing campuses and knocking on doors to generate support for the Massachusetts senator they want to send to the White House. This month, Kerry's two daughters and a stepson and the daughter of John Edwards all in their 20s and early 30s visited several Virginia campuses, drawing hundreds of supporters.

"When young people vote, Democrats win," said Chris Bast, a graduate of James Madison University who's president of Virginia Young Democrats and a field organizer for the Kerry campaign. "It's imperative that we do what we can to register and turn out as many students as possible."

Larry J. Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, said the election this year is the political equivalent of those in 1968 or 1980, pivotal times in American society with many considering the votes a referendum on the country's direction.

"Look, there hasn't been this much youth activity since 1972. The energy is remarkable," Sabato said. "In every thing there are big stakes, and there are just so many issues that young people are finding a connection with," such as the economy and the war in Iraq.

The day after the College Republicans met was a bright Sunday, and a couple of dozen Young Democrats from VCU worked at the Kerry-Edwards campaign headquarters off West Laburnum Avenue making phone calls on behalf of the candidates.

Every Sunday, members of the school's Young Democrats chapter volunteer at the Kerry office.

"Hello. I'm from Virginia Victory'04, and I have a quick question for you about the election coming up," Tavarris J. Spinks, a sophomore, asked a voter in Southside Virginia. "If the election were held today, would you vote for Democrat John Kerry or Republican George Bush?"

After that particular caller said he supported Bush, Spinks politely thanked him and dialed the next name on the list.

"This election is significant as far as the economy goes," said Spinks, vice president of the VCU Young Democrats. Spinks, who wants to be a teacher, said his friends worry about landing jobs and benefits when they graduate.

"The way it is now, I couldn't imagine starting a family and having to think about paying for college, or even just raising a child," he said.

Jessica Wingfield, a VCU junior who graduated from Patrick Henry High School in Hanover County, described Nov. 2 as "a defining vote for my generation."

Several of her friends work for small businesses and lack health care coverage, she noted.

"When you're a student working, it's hard to fit [paying for health care] into your budget when you're also having to pay for rent, books and food," she said in between phone calls on behalf of Kerry.

"After the 2000 election, people want to make sure their vote counts."

Partisans on both sides are pleased at their chance to make a difference.

"It just feels great to know that my voice is going to be heard," said Lauren O'Neil of Manassas, president of the Virginia Tech chapter of College Republicans.

She's another of the young people who'll be voting in her first presidential race.

"You feel like you're making a difference in a close and important election."