The 2008 Enthusiasm Has Gone Missing

The race that everyone cares about is obviously the national election. The campaign advisors for both parties remain upbeat about voter turnout in statements made to CBS.

"Obama senior campaign adviser David Axelrod said the early vote numbers give them assurance that the outcome is going to be good for President Obama. '"[W]e go in with a great advantage,'" 

"Romney campaign adviser Kevin Madden said Republican enthusiasm, which will lead to high voter turnout, on Election Day will trump Democrats' early vote advantage. '"Enthusiasm is really what's going to make the difference tonight,'"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57545584/obama-camp-touts-early-vote-romney-camp-touts-enthusiasm/

According to CNN Obama is leading in the polls with an estimated 237 electoral college votes and Romney with 206. This leaves 95 votes up for grabs across 8 toss up states.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2012/ecalculator#?battleground

None of this information is concrete and anything could potentially change by the end of the night. So here is my take. The 2008 election swept Obama into office because of the enthusiasm he got from young voters. 

The Pew research group wrote this days after the 2008 election, "Among voters ages 18-29, a 19-point gap now separates Democratic party affiliation (45%) and Republican affiliation (26%). In 2000, party affiliation was split nearly evenly among the young.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election


I was 18 in the last election and I could feel the energy that the Obama campaign got from voters in my demographic. but this time around I don't sense that same level of excitement from younger voters. I think that the election will be close but Romney will win in the end. The Obama "Hope and Change" dream has passed and younger voters realize he is just like every other politician.