A new poll shows U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are the top choices for President among 18-to-24-year olds.
The online poll was conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics on 2,526 young citizens and released Dec. 5.
Among young voters likely to vote Democrat, 38 percent chose Obama, 33 percent chose U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and 7 percent chose former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., according to the poll.
The poll said Giuliani led among young likely Republican voters at 26 percent, followed by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ari., at 15 percent and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., at 9 percent. Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney was at 6 percent.
Dissatisfaction with their party’s candidates differed between the two groups, 18 percent of Democrats said they were dissatisfied with their choice of candidates and 36 percent of Republicans said the same, according to the poll.
Forty percent identified politically as “independent,” 35 percent as Democrats and 25 percent as Republicans in the poll.
Marina Fisher, student co-chair of the Institute of Politics Survey Group, said a surprising finding from the poll was 37 percent said a third party was needed because the two major parties were doing so poorly.
Fisher said it was also noteworthy that health care was the second most pressing national issue at 9 percent, though the war in Iraq was still the top concern at 37 percent. She said 50 percent were also in favor of a universal health care system.
UW-Madison College Republican Nick Koeppen said dissatisfaction among young Republicans might be because libertarian leaning Republicans feel disenfranchised over the party’s alignment with Christian conservatives.
Koeppen said he was surprised there was no Republican frontrunner candidate and agreed that other Republicans he talked to were undecided.
UW-Madison Students for Obama Vice Chair Maggie Raiken said Obama’s campaign has promoted a “new type” of politics for the country.
“If you are voting in your first Presidential election or voting as a young person, you are going to want to vote for a change,” Raiken said.
