Young people don’t vote. Everybody knows that.

So will this year be any different?

Yes, in the view of Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray.

Assessing things from both his polling, which is national in scope, and first hand observation on campus, Murray said Monday that he expects those under 30 to vote next week in greater numbers than ever before in a midterm election. 

He said young people still are likely to make-up the smallest chunk of the electorate, but that their numbers should be on the rise.

Conventional wisdom suggests this will help Democrats.

Affirmative, said the pollster.

The setting for this brief conversation was appropriate – outside a room in the university’s Wilson Auditorium where Democrats were holding a rally to benefit Bob Menendez, who is in a tough reelection battle with Republican Bob Hugin.

At least 250 people, most of them students,  jammed into the room to hear speeches by Menendez, fellow Senator Cory Booker and Rep. Frank Pallone.

Booker is not running this year, but he very much stole the show.

Suit jacket off, Booker eschewed the microphone and shouted loud enough to be easily heard.

His oration was part campaign rah-rah and part history lesson.

Reflecting on such events in U.S. history as the women’s suffrage movement and the Stonewall riot, which launched the gay rights movement, Booker stressed the need for civic engagement.

He made the point by saying the all-male lawmakers at the time would not have just decided to allow women to vote if there was no movement behind the idea.

Bringing things to today, Booker drew applause when he said not voting is an “act of surrender, not an act of rebellion.”

Listening were students Chris Melillo, of Waretown,  and Cameron Gaines. of Burlington City, both of whom said they liked what Booker had to say. Gaines said she already has voted; Melillo plans to vote for the first time next week.

As he had earlier in the day during an appearance in Union Beach,  Booker also spoke about the need for civility in public life. He said all deserve respect no matter their politics or “the hat they are wearing.”

The hat reference was hardly an accident. Amid the very pro-Democratic crowd were two presumed students sporting red “Make America Great Again” hats. They were easy to spot and Booker undoubtedly did.

Booker is tough to top and Menendez, who spoke next – this was about his reelection after all – didn’t try to.

He gave a standard stump speech touching on some topics young people care about – student debt – and some they probably don’t – no discrimination for pre-existing  conditions. Most college students don’t really think about getting sick.

The overall message of all speakers was the same. 

Here it is. This really is the most consequential midterm election in years because it’s a chance for Democrats and like-minded souls to stop the Trump agenda.

It probably went unnoticed by students and even those under 50, but before things began, it was announced that a special guest was in attendance. He was described as a former “White House counsel.”

Ugh.

That would have been like introducing Mickey Mantle as “a baseball player.”

The special guest was John Dean, the celebrated, and perhaps controversial, Watergate figure.

Dean said afterwards that he was on campus to give a speech. What was the topic?

“Comparing Trump and Nixon,” Dean said.