Perhaps its naiveté or merely wishful thinking, but young people just aren’t getting the picture.
A Harvard Institute of Politics survey, released this week, has found that 18-29 year-olds trust President Obama more than GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on a variety of issues, including issues relating to young adults. But with high unemployment among college graduates and mounting debt for those with degrees, this wishful thinking could prove very harmful for them if they “trust” him with another four years.
In every polling category — issues of concern to women, issues of concern to someone their age, foreign policy, health care policy, being Commander-in-Chief, immigration reform and the economy — young adults put more trust in the incumbent president.
The closest margin was on the economy, where 50 percent preferred Obama to Romney’s 37 percent, a difference of 19 percentage points.
Young adults give Obama the benefit of the doubt on the nation’s troubles as a whole, with 62 percent agreeing with the statement, “the problems President Barack Obama inherited are so complex it takes more than four years to do the job.” Only 33 percent agree with the statement “despite his best efforts, President Obama has failed.” The survey also reports that 52 percent of the 18-29 demographic believe Obama will win reelection and 55 percent say they would vote for Obama if the election was today.
Perhaps most surprising about the young demographic is that they trust Obama 58 percent to Romney 28 percent, on issues of concern to someone their age. Youth unemployment in America in September was 11.8 percent, according to Generation Opportunity, while national unemployment stands at 7.8 percent in the same month. Additionally, 1.7 million 18-29 year-olds have completely stopped looking for work, a number that would bring unemployment in this demographic to 16.6 percent, Generation Opportunity reports. And while Obama has said he wants to increase graduation rates, CNN reports the average 2011 college graduate is saddled with almost $27,000 in debt, as a result of the tough job market and the rising cost of tuition.
Somehow, young people do not seem to understand that their generation cannot survive, much less afford, four more years of Obama.
