Young Voters Back Barack Obama Over Romney … but Many Aren’t Poised to Vote … Hope & Change = No Jobs

As reported at Gallup, President Barack Obama may have a substantial lead with young voters over presumptive GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney; however, will the young people actually come out and vote on election day? Only about 56% of the youth vote said they would vote in the general election. Barack Obama faces a real challenge in his 2012 reelection bid. That problem … his first disastrous, epic fail Presidential term in office.

President Obama this week made an explicit effort to shore up his support among young voters, embarking on a “college tour” of campuses in North Carolina, Colorado, and Iowa. Obama called on Congress to pass legislation that would keep the interest rates on student loans from doubling this summer, as they are scheduled to do under current law. Romney, in a rare instance of agreement with Obama, also came out in support of Congress’ taking this action, marking his own effort to gain support among the youth vote.

The practical value of Obama’s broad support among young voters is lessened by the fact that only six in 10 of these voters say they are registered to vote, and that fewer than six in 10 who are registered say they will definitely vote in November’s election. By way of contrast, Romney’s relatively strong support among voters 65 and older is more politically potent; these older voters are well above average in their voter registration percentage, and are most likely of any age group to say they will definitely vote in November’s election.

In 2008, 18% of the voting electorate was the youth vote. Of course Obama won the vote handily over McCain in 2008. However, those youth who voted in 2008 for Obama have little to show for their “Hope & Change” vote. Obama has recently gone out on his pandering college tour discussing student loans, but those in the audience will hardly be affected by any laws passed now. What has affected the American youth is … one in two new College Graduates are Unemployed or Underemployed. That is what will be in the minds of the “youth” vote when in comes election day.