Students try to reignite dwindling youth support for Obama

In the 2008 presidential election, 61 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 cast their… In the 2008 presidential election, 61 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 cast their votes for President Barack Obama.

But according to a recent Gallup Poll, the president might have to work harder to receive the same youth support at the polls in the upcoming November election. Currently, only 52 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds approve of the way Obama has conducted his presidency. As Obama struggles to rally support in his re-election campaign, student groups on campus, including members of the Pitt College Democrats, are working to reignite the passion that existed behind the president during his 2008 election.

Overall, the Obama administration is suffering from a 10 percent decrease in its job approval rating since the beginning of the year — down from 62 percent in mid-January.

“He just sort of seems like a dad that’s having to deal with the squabbles with Congress. He’s not as dynamic as he used to be,” said Pitt political science professor Kristen Allen, whose focus includes American politics. “Young voters are much less interested now than they were a year before the 2008 election. Only about 18 percent of this age group is following the election, and this could be because Obama is sort of over.”

Allen said that in 2008, a year before Obama was elected to office, he had a 34 percent margin of support from the 18- to 29-year-old demographic over Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

“He was fresh, new face promising change. He was able to invigorate people, especially younger people,” Allen said. “He promised change, and since he was elected president, not much has changed. This is a case where people had very high expectations, and Obama has been unable to meet those expectations.”

One of the expectations Obama has been unable to meet is finding a solution to the unemployment problem. Over the past three years, the national unemployment rate has climbed 4 percent, from 5 percent in January 2008 to 9 percent in January 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In September, Obama spoke before Congress and proposed the American Jobs Act, a $447 billion package of tax cuts and new government spending that would give employees and small businesses payroll tax cuts and provide $140 billion for modernizing schools and repairing roads and bridges. But the bill failed to pass the Republican-dominated House of Representatives or the Senate, which has a Democrat majority.

The week after the bill failed the Senate’s test vote on Oct. 11, Obama’s approval rating from the 18- to 29-year-old demographic sunk to an all-time low of 45 percent.

Matt DiFiore, a senior and the president of the Pitt College Democrats, said Obama and Congress butting heads is a factor in bringing down support.

“I think he’s done as much as he can at this point. I fully believe he’s prevented the economic situation from getting any worse,” DiFiore said. “But it would have been better if he would have been able to pass the American Jobs Act, but that, as we know, failed in Congress. It doesn’t seem like Congress will be cooperating in getting anything passed anytime soon.”

The Pitt College Democrats do not specifically endorse a single Democratic candidate, but DiFiore said he still plans to vote for Obama in the 2012 presidential election. Obama is the only Democrat running nationally.

DiFiore said that although Students for Barack Obama and the Pitt College Democrats groups are independently run, they share some of the same officers and members. On Nov. 2, Students for Barack Obama held a campaign kickoff event at which they watched a video conference featuring Obama’s campaign staff and posted questions about the campaign on Twitter.

Students for Barack Obama will also be holding a movie night this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the William Pitt Union, where they will be watching the movie “Sicko” by Michael Moore.

“We’re trying to remind people about the problems with the health care system and the good the health care bill will do to it,” DiFiore said.

Other Pitt students who identify as Democrats are not as sure they would necessarily vote to re-elect the incumbent.

“I’m definitely liberal, but I wouldn’t vote for him just because he’s a Democrat,” said Merel Duursma, a sophomore who studies nursing.

Despite the apparent lack of support from young Americans, some Pitt students are keeping an open mind and continue to support the incumbent.

Trenton Oczypok, a junior studying communication science and disorders, said he was not old enough to vote in the 2008 election but would have voted for Obama then, and he also plans to vote for him next year.

“I think he’s done a great job handling the situation he was placed into,” he said.