President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney may not agree on much, but their campaigns made clear over the last two weeks in Tampa and Charlotte the 2012 election foes share one commonality: they both are pushing heavily to capture the youth vote that helped sweep Obama into office in 2008.
In the 2008 presidential election, Obama handedly beat then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain among the 18 to 29 year old demographic, which made up about 18 percent of the electorate, 66 percent to 31 percent.
So far in the 2012 campaign, however, Obama appears to be slightly losing his grasp on the under-30 vote. An August CNN/ORC International poll taken before the Republican and Democratic conventions shows 56 percent of young voters support Obama while 37 percent plan to vote for Romney, this year’s GOP nominee.
“Young people are a little more conflicted this time around,” University of Wisconsn-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said. “Four years ago, everything was pointing in one direction, now each side has something to offer.”
Throughout their party’s convention, Democrats repeatedly praised Obama’s efforts to make college more affordable for middle- and lower-income students. In 2010, the president signed a law that federalized the student loan system and tied the maximum Pell Grant a student could receive per semester to the rate of inflation while increasing funding for the program by $68 billion over 11 years.
In his nomination acceptance speech, Obama also pledged to cut tuition growth costs in half over the next decade.
“Minimum, we have to make sure that we’re bumping up what’s available for financial aid and try to level off the playing field so that no one who’s a good student is not allowed to go to the UW just because they can’t afford to,” congressional candidate and state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said in an interview with The Daily Cardinal at the Democratic National Convention.
In contrast to the Democrats’ approach to prioritize education issues to appeal to younger voters, Republicans touted their economic platform, arguing decreasing taxes, regulations and government spending would create an economic climate that would allow recent graduates to find employment and pay off their student loans.
“College graduates should not have to live out their 20’s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life,” vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said to huge applause at the Republican National Convention.
Aside from college financing issues, Democrats also stressed that the president’s signature heath care law allows individuals age 26 and under to stay on their parents’ insurance and pushed social issues, such as gay marriage and abortion rights, which young voters typically favor.
“These are youth issues just as much as college affordability and other things that are traditionally set as youth issues,” Obama’s campaign communication director Brent Colburn told the Daily Cardinal at the DNC.
While historically Republicans have struggled to connect with young voters on social issues, they are hoping they will attract more young voters this election by focusing on the downbeat economy and dismal jobs situation.
UW-Madison College Republicans Chair Jeff Snow also said the 42-year-old Ryan will help attract youth voters to the ticket because he offers a vision for the future.
“Youth unemployment is obscenely high, it’s not normal,” Snow told the Daily Cardinal at the RNC. “When Paul Ryan talks about his ideas to make a pro growth economy through his fiscal reforms, through his tax reforms, I think young people will definitely respond to that.”
College Democrats of Wisconsin Chair Andy Suchorski disagreed, arguing young voters will be just as engaged with the Obama campaign this time around as in 2008. Especially as college students return to campus, Suchorski said college Democrats across the country will launch a massive effort to register students and get them to the polls to vote for Obama.
“We’re not seeing any evidence at all of a lack of enthusiasm or a lack of support for the president,” Suchorski said.
However, Professor Burden said youth involvement and turnout will not be as robust as it was four years ago, when 51 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds cast ballots. He added young voters were attracted to the optimism and “cool” vibe of Obama’s 2008 run, while this year’s presidential campaign has been much more negative, which could turn off political newcomers.
“The 2012 campaign doesn’t have quite the cachet of 2008,” Burden said.
