Realignment: Young Voters Maturing Early Under Obama, Abandoning Democrats

Smells like teen dispirit.

The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.

Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.

...

Philip Stricker, 21, a biology major who voted for Mr. Obama but says he has not been paying much attention to politics lately, uses a nontechnical term to describe the phenomenon.

“There’s a vibe,” he said on a recent afternoon, while pumping weights at the gym. “Right now it seems like Republicans just care a lot more than Democrats.”

The actual numbers linked are at Pew.

From a 32% advantage to a 14% advantage, and guess what, most of the Democratic ones ain't even voting this year.

As a near-Millennial myself, now 29 years old (well, I will be 29 in November), it heartens me that so many of my Generation Z'ers are seeing the light.

Or, as we now all call "light," we're now seeing the lizzle-brizzle.

posted by Ace at 03:50 PM

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