Thursday, December 15, 2011

Harvard Poll Finds Voters Under 30 Predict Obama Will Lose Re-election


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A new national poll of Americans aged 18 to 29 years old released Thursday finds more young voters predict President Barack Obama will lose his bid for re-election than win, according to Harvard's Institute of Politics.

Of those polled, 36 percent think Obama will lose while 30 percent think he will be voted into a second term.

The survey also shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney faring best among potential Republican challengers in a general election match-up against Obama, running 11 points behind the president with 26 percent to Obama's 37 percent.

Among young Republican and independents indicating they are at least somewhat likely to vote in their state's primary or caucus, Mitt Romney leads the field with 23 percent, followed by Ron Paul at 16 percent, Herman Cain at 15 percent and Newt Gingrich at 13 percent. The survey was conducted before Cain stepped out of the race.

Thirty-two percent of those polled said they are following the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations either very or somewhat closely, with 66 percent not following the demonstrations closely at all. Only twenty-one percent said they supported the movement.

"Our new polling data clearly shows Millennials are growing more concerned over the direction of the country and effectiveness of Washington, D.C. to solve problems," said Trey Grayson, Director of Harvard's Institute of Politics. "The opportunity exists for all political parties and campaigns to re-engage this generation G those who do can maximize results in 2012."

The web-enabled survey of 2,028 US citizens aged 18 to 29 years old with a margin of error of +/G 2.2 percentage points was conducted with the Institute's research partner Knowledge Networks from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3.

By: Newswire

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