PrintApril 20, 2010
Young and Old Voters Disagree on Obama Reelection, yet Agree on Major Political Issues
Though President Obama has lost some support among young voters age 18-29, they still tend to generally support his reelection. A recent poll commissioned by The O'Leary Report and conducted by Zogby International found that 46 percent of young voters would vote for President Obama today, while 42 percent would elect someone new. On the other hand, only 38 percent of older voters age 65 would reelect Obama, and 57 percent would prefer someone new. The poll was conducted March 2-30 of 10,128 likely voters and has a margin nof error of one percent.
While young and older voters disagree on who should be president, they tend to agree on issues concerning taxes, the president's jobs bill, Second Amendment rights, and how the growth of the federal government negatively affects them.
For example, a majority of young voters (64 percent of the total 24 million young voter population) say they would support legislation to ban retroactive tax bills from being passed at the state level. Recall that in January, voters in Oregon passed a referendum to retroactively raise taxes on businesses and higher-income residents for the preceding 2009 tax year. A plurality of older voters (49 percent of the total 21 million older voter population) would also support such legislation.
Strong majorities of both young and older voters (63 and 70 percent, respectively) also agree that the jobs bill being pushed by the Obama administration will primarily benefit federal and state employees. Only 36 percent of young voters think the president's jobs bill will help small businesses, as do just 38 percent of older voters.
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether the City of Chicago's handgun ban is constitutional, and whether the Second Amendment applies to all levels of government -- federal, state, and local. A majority of young voters (65 percent) say that the Second Amendment applies to all levels of government, and just 18 percent think it does not. A similar majority of older voters (63 percent) agree that the Second Amendment applies to federal, state, and local governments, and only 18 percent disagree.
Perhaps most surprisingly, majorities of both young and older voters feel personally threatened by the size and growth of the federal government. A 52-percent majority of young voters think that the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to their rights and freedoms, and 65 percent of older voters feel the same way.
Overall, these numbers indicate that most young voters, though far fewer than in 2008, are still sticking with their choice of Barack Obama for president. However, their opinions on individual policy issues differ greatly from the president's. This erosion of popular support for the president is likely to continue as more young and older voters alike realize that while they may personally like Obama for his charisma and rhetoric, they disagree with him on important issues that matter to them.
Brad O'Leary is publisher of The O'Leary Report, a bestselling author, and a former NBC Westwood One talk radio host. The Zogby Poll was commissioned by The O'Leary Report, conducted March 2-30, and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.0%. To see more, go to olearyreport.com.
