Ohio State University professor Paul Beck warns that Youth Vote Gap Suggests Republicans Risk Losing An 'Entire Generation' To Democrats. Given youth unemployment rates over 10%, Mitt Romney blundered by thinking he could make big gains with voter under 30 years old just by "talking about the economy and promising to get Americans back to work," despite promising other voters to roll back Obama's programs on Pell grants, student loans, and the Affordable Care Act, all popular with young voters.
While President Obama's support among young voters dropped 6 points from 2008, he still won this demographic group by 24 points, a situation that Professor Beck says history suggests can lead to a party lock-in effect as occurred with many 1930s era FDR voters becoming Democrats for life. A similar pattern occurred with young Ronald Reagan voters.Instead, voters ages 18 to 29 -- who made up 19 percent of the electorate, a greater share than in 2008, and half of whom cast a ballot, for the third presidential election in a row -- went for Obama by 60 percent to 36 percent for Romney.