Far and away, younger voters prefer Obama but in the 18-29 year old group, only 66% intend to vote, which lags behind all the other age categories. It's always been my contention that if the younger voter gets out to vote then Obama will win.
But these numbers don't look good. Pester your young friends and neighbors. Get them to vote early and drive them to the polls if you have to. Then again, it could be that Gallup's numbers are off.
Gallup: Obama leads McCain by 62% to 34% among registered voters 18 to 29 years of age, based on Gallup Poll Daily tracking interviewing conducted Oct. 1-20. That's a much larger margin than in any other age group. Among those aged 30 to 49, Obama maintains a 6-point margin. His lead is similar among voters between the ages of 50 and 64 (7 points). The two candidates are essentially tied among senior citizens. (Over this same period, Obama is leading McCain among all registered voters by 9 points, 51% to 42%.)
But
Gallup has found similar patterns by age in past elections, and the current data suggest younger voters still have a way to go to match the levels of registration, interest, and intention to vote of older Americans. That is not to rule out the possibility that young voters' propensity to vote could increase in the final two weeks of the campaign, or that massive Democratic "get out the vote" efforts on Election Day could motivate many latent Obama supporters to officially register that preference in the voting booth.
