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Sept. 24 - John Kerrys lead among younger voters has vanished as they become increasingly inclined to see the country as headed in the right direction, according to the first GENEXT poll conducted since the Republican National Convention in late August.
If the election were held today, the two main candidates would be neck-and-neck among under-30 voters, with 45 percent of them voting for Kerry and 44 percent for President George W. Bush. Independent candidate Ralph Nader draws 6 percent of the youth vote. Last month Kerry had the support of 50 percent of young voters, Bush had 41 percent. (In the most recent NEWSWEEK poll of all registered voters, taken between Sept. 9 and 10, Bush led Kerry with 49 percent of the vote versus the challenger's 43 percent.)
The increased support for Bush is also reflected in the narrowing spread between younger voters who believe the country is headed along the right track or in the wrong direction. Last month, 54 percent of those polled felt the country was headed in the wrong direction, compared to 42 percent who saw it as being on the right track. In the new poll, nearly as many people felt it was on the right track (47 percent) as felt it was heading in the wrong direction (51 percent).
Despite the tightening race, the majority of those younger voters surveyed disapprove of the way the president is handling his job (55 percent, up from 53 percent last month). Bushs approval ratings on foreign policy, the economy and other domestic issues have also taken a hit after showing signs of improvement last month. According to the pollconducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs and taken after a month of bad news from Iraq including recent beheadings and the death of the 1,000th U.S. soldier41 percent of young voters approve of the presidents handling of foreign policy and the war on terrorism, down from 54 percent in August. This reflects a sharp rise in disapproval of Bushs handling of foreign policy issues and the war on terrorism (58 percent now disapprove as opposed to 44 percent last month).
Source: Newsweek/Ipson poll. Margin of error: +/- 2.7
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On the domestic front, approval of the presidents handling of the economy dipped slightly to 44 percent after having leveled off at 47 percent. Approval of the presidents management of other domestic issuessuch as health care, education, the environment and energyalso dipped two points to 42 percent from 44 percent in last month.
With a little more than a month and three debates to go until the election, attitudes among young voters appear to still have some room for flexibility. Of those young voters who said they will vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket, 64 percent said they would definitely do soa slight dip of four points since last month when that number was 68 percent. And 56 percent say they definitely will vote for the Democratic ticket, down from 58 percent last month. There are very few undecided voters and almost no leaners in the young generation of voters: just 4 percent of those polled did not, or could not, say whether they would vote for Kerry, Bush or Nader.
Kerry does lead on a few issues important to young voters. They feel the Democratic challenger would do better when it comes to creating jobs (51 percent to Bushs 36 percent), making college more affordable (47 percent to Bushs 29 percent), inspiring young people to get involved in their community (47 percent to 31 percent) and implementing policies that would help young people get health insurance (53 percent to 27 percent). Bush bests Kerry on protecting the country (56 percent to Kerrys 36 percent) and reducing crime (49 percent to 35 percent). The two are practically neck-and-neck when it comes to dealing with domestic violence (Bush, with 43 percent has the edge on Kerrys 41 percent) and the all-important who is more fun questionthe windsurfing Kerry has 41 percent of young voters convinced he is more fun while Bushs cowboy affability charms 39 percent.
For the NEWSWEEK.com GENEXT Poll, Ipsos-Public Affairs interviewed 354 registered voters age 18 to 29, from Sept. 7 to Sept. 22. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points. The NEWSWEEK poll surveyed 1,003 registered voters aged 18 and older Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 by telephone. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
rtwngAvngr said:The liberals mind control machine has broken down. God Bless America!
musicman said:Ding, dong, the witch is dead
Which old witch - The wicked witch
Rock the vote, my ass!
Avatar4321 said:Rock N Roll isnt supposed to be associated with Politics. Rock is supposed to rebel against politics not support it.
