http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/young-voters-obama-approval-rating-100647.html?hp=l1
Poll: Millennials disillusioned with President Obama
By: Emily Schultheis
December 4, 2013 10:00 AM EST
Young people helped elect President Obama in 2008 and 2012, but they’re giving him low marks now.
The wide-ranging poll of 18- to 29-year-olds, released Wednesday morning by Harvard’s Institute of Politics, found that America’s young people are disillusioned with Obama’s tenure in office and disapprove of his handling of the country’s major issues.
Fifty-four percent of those surveyed disapprove of Obama’s job performance, compared with 41 percent who approve. Those numbers are an 11-point drop from Harvard’s survey in spring 2013, and almost the opposite of its fall 2009 poll, when 58 percent of young people approved and 39 percent disapproved.
“A critical factor in the election and reelection of Barack Obama, America’s 18- to 29- year-olds now rate the President’s job performance closer to that of Congress – and at the lowest level since he took office in 2009,” Harvard Institute of Politics Director Trey Grayson said in a release. “Overcoming today’s bitter partisanship and governmental gridlock is essential to showing Millennials and all our citizens that Washington, D.C. – and our democratic process – can still work and make a difference.”
Just under half of young people also said they think the country is on the wrong track, compared with 14 percent who said it’s generally headed in the right direction (34 percent said they don’t know).
Fewer Millennials would vote for Obama again if they could recast their 2012 ballot. Of those surveyed, 55 percent said they voted for Obama, 33 percent said they voted for Romney and 4 percent chose “someone else” (the margins for that age group nationally, according to exit polls, were 60-37). Asked who they’d vote for today, 46 percent said Obama, 35 percent named Romney and 13 percent would choose “someone else.”
A big part of that is young peoples’ opinions on Obamacare. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they disapprove of Obama’s handling of health care, and 57 percent disapprove of Obamacare itself. Asked what will happen to their quality of health care under Obamacare, 44 percent said they think it will get worse, compared with 34 percent who said it will stay the same and just 17 percent who said it will get better.
Asked if they could recall and replace Obama, young people were split almost evenly: 47 percent said they would recall him, compared with 46 percent who said they want him to stay.
Young people overwhelmingly named the economy as their top issue — 45 percent chose either the economy generally or more specific economic issues like government spending, jobs and taxes. Health care was the next most important issue with 18 percent, followed by immigration and education with 4 percent each.
Obama’s poor grades extend beyond the issue of Obamacare. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy, compared with 33 percent who approve. He gets similar marks across the board: 60 percent disapprove of his handling of Syria, 56 percent disapprove of his handling of Iran and 66 percent disapprove on the issue of the federal budget.
The frustration isn’t just directed at Obama, though: 59 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Democrats in Congress (35 percent approve), and three-quarters disapprove of Republicans in Congress (just 19 percent approve). Asked if they’d recall all members of Congress, 52 percent said yes.
That disillusionment with politics in general could be keeping some young people away from the polls, Harvard’s data suggests. Three-quarters said they don’t consider themselves to be politically engaged or politically active, compared with just 22 percent who said they are. And asked if they’re planning to vote in next year’s midterms, just 34 percent said they definitely will. (Seventeen percent said they will “probably” vote, 21 percent said it was a toss-up, 13 percent said they probably wouldn’t vote and 13 percent said they definitely wouldn’t vote.)
More than two-fifths of those surveyed, 41 percent, identified themselves as independents — a larger group than either Democrats (33 percent) or Republicans (24 percent).
The poll surveyed 2,089 18- to 29-year-olds in English and Spanish from Oct. 30 to Nov. 11, and has a margin of error of +/- 2.1 points.
