The “youth vote” fizzled, reports Kyle Blaine of the Student Free Press Association:
According to exit polls, only 11 percent of voters were ages 18 to 29. In 2008, young voters made up 18 percent of the electorate. It’s even less than 2006, when the youth vote comprised 12 percent of the electorate. …
Youth voters broke for Democrats 56-40 percent, which is similar to 2004-2006 levels during the Bush White House. In 2008, Obama carried 68 percent of those under 30.
Recent weeks have seen President Obama making a heavy push for youth voter turnout, including appearances on MTV and the Daily Show, and campuses all over the country. But polling showed Obama’s approval rating had sunk with youth voters — a recent Harvard Institute of Politics poll put Millennial support for Obama under 50 percent for the first time.