According to a pre-shutdown survey by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, 56% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they believed that ensuring affordable access to healthcare is a bigger priority than reducing the deficit.
And according to an ABC-Washington Post poll, among 18- to 39-year-olds, 44% approve of how Obama is handling debt negotiations. Meanwhile, 39% approve of how Democrats in Congress are handling it, and only 30% support the GOP.
“There’s a real risk for Republicans that they’ll shoulder more of the blame with this section of the electorate,” said Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.
“Young voters tend to be less ideological and more interested in the idea of compromise,” she said. “At the start of this week, the polls showed Republicans would shoulder slightly more of the blame among young voters. … At this point, your average young voter is not being dramatically affected by shutdown. But if the shutdown continues for a while, or if heaven forbid we default and there’s economic carnage, this could be a whole new ballgame, and I’d expect polls that look very different–and not in a good way for Republicans.”
John Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard’s Institute of politics, said the shutdown will “make an already difficult task even more difficult” in recruiting younger voters. Younger Americans are likely to see “Obama standing for what he believes in and that Republicans are holding Obama and health care hostage for short term political gain.”
