Support for Obama and Democrats Slips Among 'Millennial' Generation

One of the factors that fueled the resurgence of the Democrats in the 2006 midterms and particularly President Obama's 2008 campaign was the enthusiastic backing of the "Millennial" generation -- voters between 18 and 29 years old. But a Pew Research Center study says that the Democrats' advantage over Republicans with this group has dramatically shrunk from a 32-point margin in 2008 to 14 points.

These numbers include both those who identify with one of the two parties, and those who lean towards one or the other.

The figures come from an ongoing series of reports Pew is doing, based on data it and others collected from May 1990 to December 2009, comparing the Millennials to past generations, such as the Gen-Xers, Baby Boomers and Silent Generation (1928-1945). The reports cover not only political characteristics of the generations, but where they differ in religion, social mores, and use of media.

Clearly the support of Millennials is critical to winning the White House in 2012. It's important that we reach out to this demographic via social media and engaging programs to counteract the negative, inflammatory and very incorrect information being disseminated by the conservative right. The very future of these young voters depends on our actions.

Read the rest of the Politics Daily story here.