Pew Poll: Advantage goes to GOP in political generation gap

President Obama's re-election prospects may well hinge on whether or not he can get young people to the polls, findings in a new Pew Poll suggest.

The poll, released on Thursday, shows a significant generation gap in how Americans vote -and it finds that "Millennials," while more likely to vote for Mr. Obama for re-election than the older members of the "Silent generation," are also increasingly disengaged from politics.

The survey examines four generational groups: Millennials, aged 18-30; Gen Xers, aged 31-46; Baby Boomers, aged 47-65; and the Silent Generation, aged 66-83. Among those groups, the starkest contrasts can be found among the differences in the oldest group and the youngest. Millennials skewed to the left and proved themselves largely supportive of Mr. Obama - but they also showed themselves to be less politically engaged than in 2008.

Members of the Silent generation, meanwhile, have become increasingly conservative with age - and are highly engaged in the 2012 election.

One reason for the divide is a discrepancy in attitude regarding America's growing racial diversity, according to the Poll, which was conducted in two parts between September and October and which surveyed more than 4,000 people.

Millennials are diverse themselves; 41 percent are non-white or Hispanics, and, for the most part, they view America's changing demographics positively, according to the poll.

But older voters, who as a group are less diverse, view America's growing racial diversity with more skepticism. Seventy-nine percent of people included in the Silent generation are non-Hispanic whites, and tend to be "more uncomfortable than younger people with many social changes, including racial diversity and homosexuality," according to the survey. An email summary that accompanied the survey also noted that the Silent generation members also cited feelings of "unease" with Mr. Obama, who to some "may represent an unwelcome sign of the way that America has changed."

According to the poll's overview, Millennials have been shaped politically by "the politics and conditions of the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies" and tend, as a result, to be liberal on social and governmental issues.

"Millennials hold liberal attitudes on most social and governmental issues - 56 percent f avor a bigger government providing more services," according to the summary.

Still, only 49 percent of Millennials approve of Mr. Obama's job performance - a decrease of 24 points from February 2009. And only 26 percent said they "strongly approve" of how he has been doing.

Evidence suggests that Millennials feel disillusioned or let down by the president's performance over the last three years: In 2009, 73 percent affirmed that "Voting gives people like me some say about how the government runs things." Now only 63 percent of Millennials agreed with that statement, while those who agreed that "Elected officials in Washington lose touch with the people pretty quickly" increased by 11 percent, from 67 to 78.

"There have been substantial declines in positive reactions toward Obama across all age cohorts," according to the survey. "Yet the change among young people has been particularly striking. Shortly after the 2008 election, 81 percent of Millennials said Obama made them feel hopeful, while 80 percent felt proud. Today, only about half of Millennials say Obama makes them feel hopeful (48 percent) or proud (49 percent)."

The result, it appears, is a growing sense of political apathy among young voters. While 46 percent of Republican-leaning members of the Silent generation said they were following election news very closely, only 19 percent of Democratic-leaning Millennials said the same thing.

The Silent generation, meanwhile, "has held relatively conservative views on social issues and the role of government for most of their lives." Now, they are demonstrating a "growing unease, and even anger, about the direction of the country" that has them moving even further to the right.

The poll suggests that members of the Silent generation, propelled by their anger, are becoming more politically active.

Still, there are ideological divisions within both groups that could be meaningful in the 2012 election. Older Republican-leaning voters tended to be more liberal on Social Security - which is rated a top voting issue - while younger Democrats hit by the recession are split on plans for job creation.