nine states he won, he took at
least 60 percent of the under-30
vote, according to analysis by
CIRCLE. In an eighth state, Virginia, he narrowly missed the 60
percent mark.
Evidence of discontent among
young voters has pollsters seriously questioning whether
Obama will be able to engineer
a similar showing this time.
Obama’s heavy dependence
on youth votes in battleground
states explains why the Romney
campaign is expending resources,
including appearances at universities, on courting younger
voters. On its face, this strategy
might seem like a waste of energy
and money: Romney not only
trails badly in polls among young
people, but Democrats tend to
have a much easier time winning
younger voters, given their liberal
proclivities on social issues, environmental regulation and foreign
policy. But for Romney, the objective is not to win a large share
of votes. It is to deprive Obama of
a smidgen of his base — a potentially decisive smidgen.
“He needs to replicate what
he did in 2008,” says Ryan Williams, a spokesman for the Romney campaign. “Young voters
generally vote for Democrats,
but we think Governor Romney’s
message of fiscal responsibility
and pro-job growth policies will
appeal to them and bring some
of them over to our side.”
Pollsters suggest Romney has
legitimate reason for optimism.
Last time, Obama had the benefit of running against McCain,
whose lengthy Senate tenure
and sometimes-befuddled debate performances provided an
inexhaustible source of age-related hilarity for late night television. McCain compounded his
troubles by attacking Obama
as inexperienced, a tack that
merely enhanced their generational differences. McCain suffered the worst drubbing among
young people since 18-year-olds
got the right to vote in 1972.
Romney has his own problems, including unscripted and
explosive utterances that have
made him look detached from
economic reality. But merely
trying to do a little better than
McCain may prove a low bar.
Though Obama is still running strong among youth voters
in the polls, the details reveal
sharp differences across racial lines. The Harvard survey
found Obama leading Romney among young voters by 43
percent to 26 percent, with
30 percent undecided. Young
black and Hispanic voters favored Obama by spreads of
ELECTION
2012
Obama &
Young Voters
HUFFINGTON
06.17.12