Posted on 12/04/2013 1:54:50 PM PST by Kaslin
In mid-November, a series of national surveys included tantalizing nuggets suggesting that Millennials -- America's youngest voters -- were turning against the man they'd overwhelmingly supported for president twice. Young people were especially unforgiving on questions about Barack Obama's honesty and trustworthiness, a dramatic turn of events. But that data was derived from relatively small sub-samples of broader polls. Would a coast-to-coast survey of exclusively 18-to-29 year olds confirm or belie those apparent trends? We have our answer, courtesy of a new poll commissioned by Harvard University's Institute of Politics:
Young Americans are turning against Barack Obama and Obamacare, according to a new survey of millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are vital to the fortunes of the president and his signature health care law. The most startling finding of Harvard University's Institute of Politics: A majority of Americans under age 25--the youngest millennials--would favor throwing Obama out of office...The results blow a gaping hole in the belief among many Democrats that Obama's two elections signaled a durable grip on the youth vote. Indeed, millennials are not so hot on their president.
Before we delve into the results, it's worth examining whether the poll's results are reasonably reflective of young people's opinions, based on established data. Within this survey, young people were asked whom they supported in the 2012 presidential election. Obama beat Romney on this question by 22 points. In CNN's comprehensive post-election exit poll, Obama defeated Romney within this age cohort by 23 points. So that checks out. Also, the ethnic breakdown of the Harvard study was 59 percent white, 20 percent Hispanic and 13 percent black -- which appears to reflect the shifting racial demographics of the American electorate, particularly among the young. Finally, the sample pool for this scientific survey is relatively large at just under 2,100 respondents. So with that context in place, let's review some topline findings:
(1) One-third of young Americans consider themselves "liberal," 26 percent describe their views as "moderate," and 37 percent lean "conservative."(2) President Obama's overall job approval rating among Millennials is (41/54), an 11-point drop since April. On every specific issue polled, Obama's level of support ranges from 28 percent (deficits, at 28/66) to 37 percent (Iran, at 37/56).
(3) Obamacare is a yoke weighing down this presidency. The law's approval rating languishes at 38 percent among young people, with a plurality responding that Obama's signature initiative will reduce the quality of their healthcare, and a majority expecting higher costs. Just 11 percent of those polled believe Obamacare will lower costs.
(4) Just 22 percent of Millennials indicated that they're likely to enroll in Obamacare. More than double that number said they're inclined against doing so. These results should worry supporters of the law, which relies on a sizable percentage of young, healthy Americans overpaying for health insurance to balance out the risk pools.
(5) Asked whether they would recall and replace their member of Congress if given the opportunity, young people split evenly on the question (45/45). What about Barack Obama? A slim plurality (47/46) said they'd boot Obama from office if given the opportunity. As National Journal's write-up above highlighted, a 52 percent majority younger Millennials (aged 18-24) said they'd show Obama the door.
Journalist Ron Fournier mines a few more details from the raft of facts and figures. Especially interesting is the closing gap between Democrats and Republicans, especially within the younger half of this age group:
Democrats' advantage among young voters is fading. Among the oldest millennials (ages 25 to 29), Democrats hold a 16-point lead over the GOP: 38 percent say they're Democrats, and 22 percent call themselves Republicans. Among the youngest of this rising generation (ages 18 to 24), the gap is just 6 points, 31 percent for Democrats and 25 percent for Republicans.
Between this question and the Obama recall numbers, it seems clear that the younger subset of Millennial voters are more conservative than their 25-to-29 year old peers. Perhaps they're less taken by Hopenchange nostalgia. I'll leave you with one last point of comparison:
Apples/Oranges. But, in 2008, Pew had young voters ID'ing Dems 55/33. Today, Harvard has it at 38/22, 31/25 for 18-24 pic.twitter.com/jFC61hcmqM — Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) December 4, 2013
Fresh polling from Pew isn't pretty for the White House either.
What more can you expect of him?
Serves most of my generation right as far as I’m concerned. You smoked the Hopium; this is what you get.
I guess the bill came due on their idealism,
and they found out it wasn’t free.
It’s always a good thing when liberals actually experience the consequences of the policies they advocate.
Just like boy bands and MySpace, they’ve gotten bored with him.
He’s a square, man. Like: four corners.
zero don't give a shit WHAT 18 - 29 yo Americans think ... he wooed them, f***** them and has tossed them aside
Obama personally gives zero fracks about these polls. As for the voters, they will drink the koolaid again when faced with hard choices. They always like a happy ending that doesn’t involve reality.
Exactly - Obama no longer needs them. Now that he’s done using them to screw the nation over, they’re discarded like used condoms.
Perfect…LOL
I remember those days….and I am old.
“Now that he’s done using them to screw the nation over, they’re discarded like used condoms.”
Yep ... and that’s always been the DEmocratic modus operandi over the years :
1> Find or create some kind of label for a group of people. We’ll call this a “label”.
2> Scare the living hell out of said label.
3> Exploit the label for votes.
4> Discard minority and call them names once completely exploited.
You can go all the way back to the Civil War to see this nonsense in action. Hell, it’s probably been the tactic used by leftist mentality throughout history ... exploit fear for votes!!!
This is why the GOP is downright insane to pass an amnesty bill. It gives the Democrats the votes they’re going to need for “glorious worker utopia” since they’re going to lose most of the younger voting generation via apathy.
If the GOP can eradicate the idiotic “War on Women”, the Dems would be in a quagmire that makes Obamacare look like a minor nuisance (yes, I’ve mentioned that on a lot of posts now :-) ... I just find the War on Women nonsense so over the top stupid).
as long as it was abstract and he could blame others (Evil Republican Teabagger racists) it was OK. He sounded good all full of love and light—BUT now he’s hitting the young with higher prices—forcing them to sign up—its almost like the draft or something. His numbers will fall—the worst thing is when they start to make jokes and laugh at him.
Every time one of this sons plays the Knock-out game his poll numbers drop another notch.
Lots of obama lovers are finally paying attention now that obamacare is hitting them in the pocket book. But as the poll shows, half of them still think obama is the bomb and will never admit otherwise. They could end up living under a bridge and they’d have an obama sticker on the nearest bridge piling.
That’s nice, but the damage is done.
Politics
Millennials Abandon Obama and Obamacare
A majority of America’s youngest adults would vote to recall the president.
Take this test to determine you are a Millennial:
My score was: “Your Millennial score is 0”
How Millennial Are You?
Take our 14 item quiz and we’ll tell you how “Millennial” you are, on a scale from 0 to 100, by comparing your answers with those of respondents to a scientific nationwide survey. You can also find out how you stack up against others your age.
http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/how-millennial-are-you/
I got a “dinosaur 4” score!
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