College Kids Less Likely to Consider Themselves as Democrats

There's an old saying that if you're in your 20's and not a liberal you have no heart, and if you're in your 40's and not a conservative you have no brain.  Looks like there may be a little less heart and a little more brain among the nation's college kids:

The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.

Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.

“Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?” asked Scott Keeter, the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan group. “The jury is still out.”

How and whether millions of college students vote will help determine if Republicans win enough seats to retake the House or Senate, overturning the balance of power on Capitol Hill, and with it, Mr. Obama’s agenda. If students tune out and stay home it will also carry a profound message for American society about a generation that seemed so ready, so recently, to grab national politics by the lapels and shake.

This is one of those "youth vote" stories that come up each election cycle, and based on past performance of this age group, I don't expect these college kids to vote or stay home in any greater numbers than they have in the past. Take a look at this previous post I did on the youth vote for a little background.

The youth may have been temporarily enamored with Barack Obama in 2008, but there's little evidence that they turned up at the polls in any great percentages than they usually do.  They may have worn the buttons and put the sticks on their cars, but on election day the vast majority of them stayed home.  It will probably be the same this year, though the ones that do get out and vote may be more likely to vote for the "R" rather than the "D".