Paul Ryan's realism about the fiscal cliff is showing signs of appealing to younger voters, a group which overwhelmingly voted for Obama, and which has been buffeted by the economy worse than most other demographic slices. The Washington Examiner reports on the latest Zogby poll:

"According to Zogby the Ryan pick helped Romney with younger voters and independents, two key battleground constituencies. "Romney saw a bump in support among 18-29 year olds with 41 percent saying they would vote for the ticket of Romney and Ryan," said Zogby. "More importantly, Romney and Ryan led Obama and Biden among independent voters 45 percent to 40 percent." [emphasis added]

Added the pollsters: "If numbers like this hold, this could spell real trouble for the president who won with 66 percent of 18-29 year olds in 2008."

Credit goes to Tara Servatius for predicting this outcome yesterday on AT,  making a point not widely grapsed  by other analysts.

The GOP desperately needs to win the young demographic, and has a major opportunity. People who borrow to go to college rapidly understand the consequences of dent as they mature.