A new “Youth for the Win” survey with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner finds that young voters are on pace to deliver a big Democratic margin in November, but offers two cautions which should drive efforts to engage this group and ensure they deliver. First, while this bloc is solidly Democratic, John McCain is much more popular than Bush or the Republicans; tackling this requires re-branding the Republican nominee as a Republican. Second, the long Democratic nominating process has sapped young voters’ enthusiasm; there needs to be major healing after this nomination is settled.
The latest national youth survey conducted by Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner shows that young people are poised to deliver large margins to Democrats in November, echoing the 2006 results when Democrats won the under 30 vote 60 to 38 percent. In our latest analysis of the youth vote, Stan Greenberg, Anna Greenberg, Dave Walker, and James Carville examine young people’s political preferences, and highlight ways to elevate young voter support and turnout which will position them to play a potentially transformational role.
This is the second analysis of our youth survey. The first report, “The MySpace Election,” showed the fundamental differences in how young people experience and participate in the 2008 elections.
