Obama Sweeps the Youth Vote, Again

South Carolina's Democratic primary continued the trend seen in every contest this election, with young voters strongly throwing their support behind Barack Obama.

So far, Obama has won among 18-29 year olds in every state, garnering 67% of their votes in South Carolina, 59% in Nevada, 51% in New Hampshire and 57% in Iowa. (In Michigan, only Hillary Clinton's name was on the ballot, but perhaps significantly, the majority of young people voted "uncommitted," rather than Clinton.)

Support is particularly unflagging among college-age voters-- not surprisingly, the Politico found that Obama has scooped up more college newspaper endorsements than any candidate. And in South Carolina, the Obama campaign been building up his youth outreach movement for months, targeting the state in their "Camp Obama" workshops, and targeting especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Interestingly though, young voters didn't seem split by race to the extent older South Carolinians did: Obama won young white voters by 52% to Clinton's 28%. It seems Obama's efforts were enough to build a multiracial young base.

But Clinton's campaign hasn't given up yet. Last week they launched "Our Voice, Our Future," a two-week tour of high schools, colleges and young professional groups. The tour is led by Chelsea Clinton and celebrity supporters like actress America Ferrera from the TV show "Ugly Betty" and surprisingly, Jesse Jackson's son, Yusef Jackson.

Clinton's right to keep trying. Young voters appear to be committed to a Democratic president. Just as in New Hampshire and Iowa, turnout rose for the Democrats over 2004 levels--the number of young South Carolinians who voted this year tripled from 2004. Meanwhile,fewer young Republicans have turned out in every race, and in South Carolina, the number of participants actually dropped from 2000, the last year that South Carolina held a presidential primary.

Even if Clinton can't steal large numbers of young voters away from Obama, if she is the eventual nominee she'll need to keep them interested. There aren't polls indicating that youth who vote for Obama wouldn't vote for Clinton in a general election, but she might not inspire the same turnout.

Last fall, of course, South Carolina's youth had different loyalties: before his candidacy was ruled out, Stephen Colbert was polling in the double digits as a 3rd party candidate. With Colbert on the ballot, who knows what would've gone down?

Comments (10)

1. Really?!?!?

   Posted by ACook at 01/27/2008 @ 11:09pm

2. But Clinton's campaign hasn't given up yet. Last week they launched "GOLDWATER GIRLS REVISITED," a two-week tour of high schools, colleges and young professional groups.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/27/2008 @ 11:58pm

3. After four states, with 51% to 67% of under-30 voters for Obama, these Dem Primaries are Triple Headers: Race, Gender and Generational.........

   We need just one more `factor' to streeeeetch into a Home Run! `Class'? Need Edwards to keep posting % like he did in SC!

   Posted by Happy at 01/28/2008 @ 12:14am

4. Forget Hillary. Look ahead. Start running against the Bush Republicans. Look at Liz Cheney joining Romney's campaign staff. Now there's a target worth focusing on, indicative of who Romney's real backers are.

   Posted by sloper at 01/28/2008 @ 01:46am

5. This only proves that Obama's handlers are as manipulative as Clinton's. They are aiming at the most uninformed, easily-led portion of the Democratic electorate, in the exact same way as Rove did when Bush/Cheney snagged the evangelical, fervid church-goers.

   Wise voters look deeper than platitudes.

   Posted by sjduskin at 01/28/2008 @ 03:00am

6. Just like young voters were way ahead of the curve in 1960 in supporting JFK and ending the war in Vietnam, young voters today see in Barack a JFK-like figure who inspires us all to live up to our highest ideals as Americans.

   Posted by Metteyya at 01/28/2008 @ 06:04am

7. Wise voters look deeper than platitudes.

   Posted by SJDUSKIN 01/28/2008 @ 03:00am

   yeah, but wise "candidates" don't offer anything but platitudes.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/28/2008 @ 09:02am

8. Wise voters look deeper than platitudes.----Posted by SJDUSKIN 01/28/2008 @ 03:00am

   And vote for.....whom?

   Posted by Mask at 01/28/2008 @ 1:03pm

9. Ted's endorsement. Few notes, no teleprompter, no mangled English ... the old warhorse really let it rip ... if you didn't see it ...

   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22882751#22882751

   Posted by sloper at 01/28/2008 @ 3:39pm

10. SJDUSKIN's remarks are the usual condescending diatribe. Apparently, the only youth that were allowed to look ahead were in the 60's... today's younger generation should just be content with the stellar leadership their elders (and betters?) have bequeathed them. I teach college kids. I am 35, so not a kid myself (though I guess I am in the post-60's generation).

    Trust me when I say that their command of information, courtesy of a familiarity and comfort with the Internet, is superior to that of many of the older generations. While YouTube does offer a slew of mundane content, it also provides full access to unedited video of the candidates. While Digg touts many pointless stories, it also features an index of election coverage that is vast.

    They don't rely on CNN, MSNBC, FOX nearly as much as Boomers and beyond. If they have a fault, it is passivity... as Caroline Kennedy (another educator) beautifully put it, they are... "hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged." I often think that they are all too aware of the cesspool.

    Also, look at their track record when they do vote. Did the youth vote go for Bush? No. They in fact didn't go for him the first time... nor the second, when their wiser elders saw fit to hand the WH back to him. They have proven again that they of everyone can look beyond race, gender and sexual orientation when voting. The kids gave this country JFK... the adults Nixon.

    So spare me the "adults are going to take over kiddies" attitude that just is a form of liberal conservatism: protect what we have, don't try to be better and instead hold onto the edge of the abyss.

    Of course, I also believe that the conservatism of the previous generation is overstated. Along with all the young people I see volunteering for Obama, I see plenty of the white, older women that are supposedly not for him.

    Posted by Ian Tepoot at 01/29/2008 @ 03:37am