RENWL

Losing his youthful touch? Obama speaks to college students during campaign

According to the New York Times (NYT) though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.

“Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?” asked Scott Keeter, the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan group. “The jury is still out.”

The College Republican National Committee, which works with campus groups around the nation, is making economic angst a focus of its vote-hunting efforts — especially over the national debt, and the idea that young people will be saddled with it.

But the NYT says Democratic National Committee, by contrast, is trying to reinforce, or re-establish, the bond that many students felt in 2008 with Mr. Obama, and to use that link to bolster support for Democrats. A spokesman for the committee, Brad Woodhouse, said he thought the surveys showing the erosion of Americans identifying as Democrats were misleading partly because voters connected differently with politics in 2008 — more through a person, Mr. Obama, than a party. That makes the task of building party allegiance different from past patterns, he said.

The big question however is whether millions of college students vote will help determine if Republicans win enough seats to retake the House or Senate, overturning the balance of power on Capitol Hill, and with it, Mr. Obama’s agenda. Says the Times, if students tune out and stay home it will also carry a profound message for American society about a generation that seemed so ready, so recently, to grab national politics by the lapels and shake.

For the complete story go to the following link: Fewer Young Voters See Themselves As Democrats

Pew Summary:

Here’s a PDF Copy of the entire Pew Report: