By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : President Barack Obama continues to widen the gap between himself and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, leading by a nineteen-percentage point margin (55 percent-36 percent) among young adult “likely” voters, according to a new poll.
Just three weeks before the presidential election, the poll of America’s 18- to 29- year olds by Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP), located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, also shows voting enthusiasm slipping
Only 48 percent of America’s young adults say they will “definitely” vote in the Nov 6 election, the poll released by Cambridge, Massachusetts based Ivy League institution Wednesday said. But Romney voters are more likely to turnout than Obama voters
Obama leads Romney by nineteen points with young adult “likely” voters, continues to be preferred candidate among 18- to 29- year olds generally and is ahead on college campuses, according to the poll.
The survey also shows a solid majority of 18- to 29- year olds (62 percent) more comfortable with the view that Obama inherited problems unable to be fixed in one presidential term rather than the viewpoint that he has failed (33 percent).
“As enthusiasm for voting continues to slip among America’s 18- to 29- year olds, the IOP’s latest poll shows a clear sentiment by young adults that Washington is broken,” said Harvard Institute of Politics Director Trey Grayson.
“We must work together to re-engage youth in the political process – a goal critical to the health and future of our democracy.”
According to the survey majority believe problems Obama inherited are complex and require more time to solve.
When asked which presidential candidate they trust more to handle a number of top issues, the polling shows Obama favoured over Romney on health care (+23 percentage points), foreign policy (+23), to be the Commander-in-Chief of the military (+22), immigration reform (+20) – and the economy (+19).
Obama was also trusted more to handle “issues of concern to someone your age” (+31) and “issues of concern to women” (+33).
The survey of 2,123 18- to 29- year old US citizens with a margin of error of +/- 2.1 percentage points (95 percent confidence level) was conducted between Sep 19 and Oct 3.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])