Repost from another diary on the subject:

All of this  is good for the party.  To grow we need to reach into deeper layers than before, call it the extension of Dean's 50-state strategy.  Now it is time to reach women who have never voted in their lives (Clinton,) college kids just voting for the first time (Clinton and Obama,) increased minority participation - Hispanics and African-Americans (Clinton, Obama, Richardson.)    

If we get 18% and 17% of ALL youngins to be "very excited" about our top 2 candidates, that is 35.%  I would venture to say that that 35% between both candidates with "strong" excitement is higher than either party has received ever as far as real excitement amongst that age group is concerned, in any cycle.   It is a GOOD thing for all of us.   These voters, brought in early, have the potential to be Democratic voters for life.  

...it may have been for the best that Dubya was re-elected.

Let's not forget that in the 2006 election, the youth turned out to vote. People around 20-25 vote at least the same rate as the overall electorate, if not even slightly higher. There was an interesting Op-Ed from former Gov Jeane Shaheen on a study that Harvard did (she's the head of their political center) in the Boston Globe not too long ago that was entirely about how the young adults now vote, big time.

People are just starting to take notice.

I feel we need to reform the College Democrats into a much more effective organization for youth outreach. For example, the College Republicans are a 527-group with millions of dollars in their coffers. From the College Republicans, they got a slew of prominent people like Karl Rove and Grover Norquist. Finally, we need to reform the CDA to expand our bench of future candidates across the country.

This poll is obviously good news for the Dems, but the party can't take the youth vote for granted. Great recent work on college affordability, but they've gotta keep it up and they have to focus on young people in 2008.

Here's my blog post on this poll at CampusProgress:
http://www.campusprogress.org/page/commu nity/blog/zachmarks

My 77 year old mother was a Democrat from 1950's  until the early 1980's then she became a GOP but not anymore she left the GOP because of Bush Jr. she would probably had left much earlier if it wasn't for her watching that damn FOX News but once I returned home to care for her ( she has terminal pancreatic cancer) I had her watching MSNBC & CNN instead of that crap Fox has to offer.
Even conservatives on MSNBC like Tucker & Scarbourough will at least be honest about this pathetic Neo-Con led government but they lie on FOX News and try to cover up Bush's crimes.

23. Is your opinion of Barack Obama favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about Barack Obama yet to have an opinion?

Fav 41 Unfav 19

21. Is your opinion of Hillary Rodham Clinton favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about Hillary Rodham Clinton
yet to have an opinion?

Fav 41
Unfav 43

With Obama Dems could solidify a new generation of hardcore Democratic voters. With Hillary that opportunity will be missed.

It is interesting to note that while young voters are more liberal on almost every social issue than the elder population they are less so when it comes to abortion.

What this tells me is that progressives are wrong to suppose that pro-life is about prejudice, stupidity or ignorance. The pro-life position is intellectually and morally well founded, whether you agree with or not (I disagree though I am uncomfortable with abortions).  

First, good thing for the Dems they are growing replacements because many of us life long Democrats are getting sick and tired of what we see as weak and corporate owned votes. Second point is that Youth are more liberal because they are still too young to realize their mortality.  They will moderate, but they will never be conservatives - thank god.

As always, the plural of anecdote is not data.

The day after the 2006 election I had a student who was exhausted. I asked him why. He told me that he had a large group of student friends over to watch the election results. They didn't leave until after 3:00 a.m. He then told me, of the 20 or so people at his apartment only 4 had voted for Kerry - the rest had voted for dubya.

I've noticed a change in that dynamic.

Some of this may have something to do with decreased support for higher education on the part of our republican dominated state legislature (and the resultant increases in tuition).

They are also of service age. They've been thinking "Why am I here now, and not in Iraq?" The grotesque failures of dubya, his administration, and the then republican controlled Congress are now apparent to them. Many don't like the thought of going there. I haven't had the opportunity to hand out a DD-4 in a long while, asking, "why are you still here if you support the war?"

Stem cells.

only Clinton and Obama

what you and the nyt and others seem to be overlooking is the fact that young people are more optimistic than the population as a whole that the u.s. will succeed in iraq. what explains this?

Despite all the great discussion, no one seems to be reporting on this little fact that made it into the CBS story but is no where to be found in the New York Times artice:

Among those who plan to vote in the Democratic primaries, 29 percent are enthusiastic about Clinton and 26 percent about Obama.

Yeah, among likely caucus/primary going young voters, Clinton is beating out Obama in this poll.  It's within the margin of error, but seriously - this is counter to the conventional wisdom of the '08 narrative thus far.

Earlier this week (on Future Majority and here on MyDD), I wrote about the Horse Race and the Youth Vote narrative.  In that post, I noted that Barack was leading among young voters, but Clinton was nipping his heels, despite lacking a visible youthroots movement.  I speculated that maybe those numbers were just smoke and mirrors - reflections of her huge name recognition.   This poll adds more weight to the theory that Clinton may be just as much in the youth vote race as Obama.  

Obama's campaign rests on a high youth turnout to negate Clinton's advantages in other areas.  If Hillary is pulling even among young voters, and her supporters are more likely to turnout, what does that mean for the Obama campaign?  What does it mean for the youth vote narrative in the media?

This certainly casts the New York Times story in doubt, which Adam Nagourney ended with this conclusion:

More important, though, at least for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama is the impression this group has of them. In the poll, 43 percent of respondents said they held an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, a number that reflects the tide of resistance she faces nationwide. By contrast, only 19 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Mr. Obama.

Convenient that he left out the one piece of information from the poll that disputed his conclusion.

The ability to register at the polls is a big factor in turnout of the youngest eligibles in States where it's allowed. Not so popular with Dem establishmernts tho, as it can benefit outsiders in Primaries.

voters.  I know few people in the 19 to 29 age bracket who don't have student loans.  It seems lately I keep reading about student loan scandals and how schools are ripping off students.  It is worth noting that the NY Times poll shows that young people believe that they will be worse off than their parents.  When I look at student debt rising and the ever increasing price of a college education, I think that we as Americans are really putting the next generation in terrible position.  Not only will young people be stuck with the bills for our current spending, they are wallowing in debt. The student loans are debt that can't be discharged by bankruptcy so it will stay with them.  I was reading reviews for Sicko and Michael Moore apparently makes the claim that corporate america is burdening these young americans with debt so they will never be able to speak out.  Maybe I am being cynical but if the republicans can create Medicare Part D to woo seniors, isn't there some kind large scale of debt forgiveness programs or system to cap tuition rates.  I know candidates, like Edwards, are floating a number of programs, but none seems to me to be that large scale or address those who are already in debt. I think a serious, comprehensive program that directly addresses these issues might make them democrats for a long, long time.