Gen Dems: The Party's Advantage Among Young Voters Widens

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: Trends in the opinions of America's youngest voters are often a barometer of shifting political winds. And that appeared to be the case in 2008.

• 58% of voters under age 30 identified or leaned toward the Democratic Party, compared with 33% for the GOP. The Democratic Party's 2008 lead among young voters doubled from 11 points to 25 points from 2004 to 2008.
• Twice as many women voters under age 30 identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party as favor the Republican Party (63% vs. 28%)
• 66% of under-30's supported Obama; far higher than in any previous election - compared to 31% for McCain.
• Obama secured 71% of young first time voters compared to McCain's 29% of first-time voters. [DailyMail]
• Online facts: 90% of adults under age 30 and 70% of adults age 50-64 regularly use the internet. 50% of adults under age 18-29 say the Internet is their main news source.
  

The current generation of young voters, who came of age during the George W. Bush years, is leading the way in giving the Democrats a wide advantage in party identification, just as the previous generation of young people who grew up in the Reagan years -- Generation X -- fueled the Republican surge of the mid-1990's.

In surveys conducted between October 2007 and March 2008, 58% of voters under age 30 identified or leaned toward the Democratic Party, compared with 33% who identified or leaned toward the GOP. The Democratic Party's current lead in party identification among young voters has more than doubled since the 2004 campaign, from 11 points to 25 points.

In fact, the Democrats' advantage among the young is now so broad-based that younger men as well as younger women favor the Democrats over the GOP -- making their age category the only one in the electorate in which men are significantly more inclined to self-identify as Democrats rather than as Republicans. Use the interactive tool to track generational differences in party affiliation over time.

While more women voters in every age group affiliate with the Democratic Party rather than the GOP, the gap is particularly striking among young women voters; more than twice as many women voters under age 30 identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party as favor the Republican Party (63% vs. 28%).

Gallup Survey Report May 2009 -- Democrats currently enjoy a party identification advantage over Republicans among Americans at every age between 18 to 85, with the greatest advantages coming among those in their 20s and baby boomers in their late 40s and 50s. Republicans, on the other hand, come closest to parity with Democrats among Generation Xers in their late 30s and early 40s and among seniors in their late 60s.

These conclusions are based on an analysis of more than 123,000 interviews conducted by Gallup between Jan. 2 and May 5 of this year. This extremely large group of interviews allows for the analysis of party identification for each of the 67 distinct ages between 18 and 85. Gallup conducted interviews with at least 650 respondents at each age, with the average sample size of 1,756 per age year.