The poll also found that 49 percent of the young voters interviewed said they planned to follow the Democratic National Convention “closely” or “very closely,” while 33 percent said they would follow the Republican National Convention “closely” or “very closely.”
Democrat Barack Obama still has a wide lead over Republican John McCain among young voters, according to a Harvard University poll released yesterday.
The poll, conducted online over the last month with 1,031 young voters, found 18- to- 24-year-olds support Obama over McCain by a margin of 55 percent to 32 percent, with 13 percent undecided. Obama’s lead slightly increased since the last poll Harvard University’s Institute of Politics released in the spring, when Obama had 53 percent of those voters, while McCain remained at 32 percent and 16 percent were undecided.
Some of Obama’s largest areas of support came from African-Americans (93 percent to 3 percent), Democrats (88 percent to 3 percent) and young voters on the East Coast (68 percent to 22 percent).
In addition, slightly more voters reported they trusted McCain (31 percent) more to be commander-in-chief of the military over Obama (28 percent), while nearly the same percentage said they trusted one over the other to protest the country from terrorism.
However, Obama held large leads over McCain in categories in having voters’ trust to improve the country’s image overseas and find solutions for the economy.
