The latest national youth survey conducted by Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner contains great news for Obama and the Democratic party, bad news for John McCain and the Republican brand. Here are some tantalizing snippets, emphasis mine:
Democratic support among America’s youth now reaches 2006 levels, not only in the generic vote for president, which has been true for some time, but also in the named trial heat. Obama now beats McCain 60 to 33 percent in a named ballot for President, a margin that echoes the Democratic advantage in the 2006 congressional elections (60 – 38 percent).
... the Democratic advantage balloons among young people most likely to vote.
While this survey shows a small drop in the number of young people saying they are “very likely” to vote (rating their likelihood to vote a ten on a ten-point scale), the erosion reflects diminished engagement among Republican-leaning youth.
Progressives also need to address more specifically the current economic reality young people face. ... Many young people face all the same economic burdens other people face, such as rising gas prices, but these issues are compounded by the scant employee benefits typically provided entry-level workers, higher levels of debt and student loans, the burden of living (mostly) on a single income and an economy which often fails to provide jobs in the fields in which they trained. Young people are not amused when they learn about McCain’s plan to cut further some of the programs that could potentially help them.
John McCain moves from a mixed 34 percent positive, 37 percent negative thermometer rating in April to a 30 percent positive, 49 percent negative rating now. He still stands taller than Bush, but his numbers almost mirror the standing of the Republican Party.
The Republican brand was so diminished among young people it was not clear it could crash further. But it did.
... young people’s alienation from the Republicans does not rest entirely on frustration with Republican governance. ... It relates to a core disagreement over Republican/conservative values, world-view and role of government. Young people support a more activist government, but also a government that gives its citizens the freedom to make personal choices. In this survey, however, another theme to emerge is the sense among young people that they will spend the rest of their lives paying for the mistakes of the current generation of Republicans.
This bodes well for Democratic candidates for a long time to com.
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