In 2008, young voters came out in record breaking numbers for the presidential election, a factor than many political analysts say helped Barack Obama win the 2008 presidential election.
As voters head to the polls in the politically charged state of New Hampshire Tuesday, younger voters will again make their presence felt.
College aged voters in New Hampshire became national news last week after former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was caught on video in a back and forth exchange with a college student regarding gay marriage rights.
The incident occurred during the College Convention 2012 at New England College in Concord, New Hampshire Thursday. The crowd booed Mr. Santorum for comparing gay marriage to polygamy and not directly addressing their questions regarding why he is against gay marriage.
According to the Public Polling Policy poll of likely New Hampshire Republican primary election voters released Sunday, 10 percent of the more than 17000 New Hampshire residents polled identified themselves as being between the ages of 18 and 29.
The PPP poll found that the largest age group of voters in the New Hampshire Republican primary election will be people between the ages of 46 and 65 years old.
Young voters in New Hampshire are likely not only concerned with issues such as gay marriage either, as the current job market in the U.S. for college graduates is poor, so the candidates plans regarding the U.S. economy and jobs has to be a big point of emphasis for that age group.
MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway recently talked about the issues concerning young voters in an interview on CBS News.
“A lot of young Americans are feeling disillusioned, but they’re not disengaged with the political process. We saw the turnout with Occupy Wall Street,” said Mr. Calloway. ”But when I go out in the streets and I talk to young potential voters, some of their concerns are student loans, how to pay for college and coming out of college and not having jobs.”
Mr. Calloway has been leading MTV’s “Power of 12″ movement in New Hampshire over the past week, the “Power of 12″ is MTV’s youth voter initiative trying to give young voters a voice in the 2012 campaign.
One Republican candidate that has seen a surge of support from younger voters in Texas congressman Ron Paul, known for his unique domestic and foreign policy views.
Mr. Paul is a tough battle for second place in the New Hampshire Republican primary election according to recent polls. It will be interesting to see if his support base from young voters will affect the results Tuesday.
