Barack Obama easily won the youth vote nationally, 67 percent to 30 percent. | REUTERS Study: Youth vote was decisive

Mitt Romney would have cruised to the White House had he managed to split the youth vote with Barack Obama, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

Obama easily won the youth vote nationally, 67 percent to 30 percent, with young voters proving the decisive difference in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to an analysis by the Center for Research and Information on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Obama won at least 61 percent of the youth vote in four of those states, and if Romney had achieved a 50-50 split, he could have flipped those states to his column, the study said.


( PHOTOS: Election Day 2012)

About half of all eligible people ages 18-29 voted in Tuesday’s election, roughly the same level as 2008, according to Peter Levine, the center’s director. The youth vote’s share of the electorate actually increased slightly from 18 percent to 19 percent. In total, 22 million-23 million young people voted, according to the analysis.

Levine and Rock The Vote President Heather Smith both said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday that increased turnout over presidential elections in 2004, 2008 and 2012 shows high voter turnout is a “new normal” with the millennial generation, compared to less engaged voters in Generation X. In the 1990s, youth turnout was regularly less than 40 percent.

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“I think we’ve now established a fairly decent pattern that his generation is different from their older brothers and sisters, and we can put those rumors of apathy to bed,” Smith said on a conference call with reporters, adding: “This voting bloc can no longer be an afterthought to any party or campaign.”