AP PHOTO/MANUEL BALCE CENETA, FILE
79-1 and 50-12 respectively.
But among young white voters,
Obama trailed Romney by 37
percent to 34 percent.
The Obama campaign is
counting on two key demographic trends: Between election
day in 2008 and this year, the
number of Americans between
18 and 29 years old will have
swelled by more than a million;
much of that growth skews African-American and Latino.
“The pie is now bigger,” says
Messina. “That’s what people
keep missing. This has long
been a part of our strategy.
These are people who agree
with us on the issues. The question is whether or not we can
put together the ground game,
and I think we can.”
In going back to the well for
youth voters, Obama is seeking
to engage a slice of the electorate that has suffered some of the
worst depredations of the Great
Recession. At least two-thirds of
Students and
faculty set
up a voter
registration
table at the
University of
Pennsylvania
in 2008.