Young Voters Ditching Democratic Party

Democrats might be losing their grip on young voters. Polls shows a drastic drop in 18-to-29-year-olds who identify themselves as Democrats, the New York Times reports. The figure peaked at 62% in July 2008, but slid down to 54% by late last year, before ticking up to 57% this year. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage?” mused a Pew pollster.

As a group, young people are very socially liberal, but the recession has hurt them more than most. The DNC also is quick to point out that many young voters were more invested in Obama personally than with the Democratic Party. Many students the Times talked to said voting blue in 2008 hadn’t made them partisan warriors. “It’s like picking a team when you really don’t want to root for either,” said one Colorado State University student. (More youth vote stories.)