The Youth Vote...Won't

Remember all the campus love Obama got in 2008?  Those days are over:

The Obamamania that gripped college campuses two years ago is gone.

An Associated Press-mtvU poll found college students cooling in their support for President Barack Obama, a fresh sign of trouble for Democrats struggling to rekindle enthusiasm among many of these newest voters for the crucial midterm elections in three weeks.

Forty-four percent of students approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 27 percent are unhappy with his stewardship, according to the survey conducted late last month. That’s a significant drop from the 60 percent who gave the president high marks in a May 2009 poll. Only 15 percent had a negative opinion back then.

It’s not just students. Obama’s support from many groups has ebbed since his early months in office because of persistently high unemployment and opposition to his plans to revive the economy and overhaul the health care system. But his diminished backing from college students raises further questions about whether the Democrats’ efforts to rally them — and other loyal supporters such as blacks and union members — will be enough to prevent Republicans from winning control of Congress in the Nov. 2 elections.

The youth vote has always been highly sought by politicians, and almost always shows up in very small numbers.  Even 2008 didn't see that remarkable an increase in youth voters.

And as I mentioned in a previous post, they were talking about the all-important youth vote clear back in the 1972 election.  Things don't change - in each election you just get a new crop of youth who don't choose to get involved.