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Democrats’ ratings increase among young Americans

President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are sparking a reconnection with 18- to 29-year-old voters despite low approval ratings in the fall, according to a Harvard University poll released Tuesday.

Although a Harvard University Institute of Politics poll showed the college-aged group gave low approval ratings for Obama about four months ago, the new IOP poll suggested increased approval ratings for Obama and other Democrats in Congress.

This marks a 6 percent increase from the 11-point lead Obama held in the late November IOP polling, said John Della Volpe, director of polling at the IOP, in a phone conference at the State House on Tuesday.

Obama leads projected general election opponent Mitt Romney by a 17-point margin, according to the poll’s executive summary.

“A significant driver of the job-approval increase that President Obama has [received] has been driven by the Hispanic vote,” Della Volpe said, adding that there has been a statistically significant 14 percent increase among Latinos in the last four months.

The IOP’s Survey of Young Americans’ Attitudes toward Politics and Public Service began in 2000 as a national survey of 18- to 24-year-old college undergraduates and now analyzes 18- to 29-year-olds on various current issues, according to the executive summary.

In November, more than half of young Americans said the country was headed in the wrong direction, according to the executive summary.

That number decreased from 52 percent to 43 percent, Della Volpe said.

The poll’s release coincided with Obama’s visits to the University of North Carolina of Chapel Hill and the University of Colorado at Boulder Tuesday.

Della Volpe said the most important issues facing America are jobs and the economy.

But some of the intense pressure related to the economy since November is starting to decrease, with 58 percent of people citing jobs and the economy as their top national concern, a 16 percent decrease since the 2011 survey, according to the executive summary.

Eva Guidarini, a Harvard College freshman on the Harvard Public Opinion Project, said there is significantly more enthusiasm from the youth to volunteer and campaign for Obama than for Romney.

Guidarini said a polling group asked how likely they were to volunteer for Obama and Romney.

Seventeen percent said they were very likely to volunteer for Obama, while only five percent said so for Romney, she said.

The poll asked how often Millennials trusted the government and Wall Street to do the right thing.

Two percent said they trusted Wall Street all the time, while more than a third said they never trusted it.

Twenty-seven percent said they trusted the federal government all or most of the time.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen some continued deterioration in the way in which young people think about the government,” Della Volpe said.

He said the role of the economy and the role of Washington, on every measure on health of Washington and health of government, are among the reasons that overall voter participation and enthusiasm is down.

“If you don’t trust government institutions [for which] you’re voting leaders, you’re probably not going to have a great deal of interest in going out and voting,” IOP Director Trey Grayson said.

Della Volpe said it is clear the Millenial generation is not necessarily as supportive of Obama and Democrats as they were in 2008, but it does not imply they are more supportive of Republicans.

“They clearly feel that they care very deeply about the issues in their community, but they also feel that the current political system is not representing their views,” Della Volpe said, adding that too many people are sitting on the sidelines waiting to be engaged by both parties.

Millennials display knowledge and concern of the nation’s issues, according to the executive summary.

“They are asking President Obama and Gov. Romney to provide leadership and a clear vision that makes America and its citizens more safe, prosperous and secure,” according to the executive summary. “Millennials are willing to invest their time and their resources to do the same locally.”

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