How was that message received by Mr. Ely, for instance? “It was a really stupid thing to say,” he said. “Definitely doesn’t make him look any better in my eyes.”

Still, the Romney campaign is relying heavily on the Internet and social media to make its pitch to financially distressed young adults, some of whom depend on government food stamps and unemployment checks.

“The Obama economy has created a lost generation,” said Joshua Baca, the Romney campaign’s national coalitions director. “Hope is on the way. That’s what we’re saying. You’re going to have a better opportunity to get a job and a college education and a better opportunity to succeed if we elect Mitt Romney president.”

The Obama campaign is investing in social media, too, and counting on its extensive ground operation to carry a message: “President Obama is laying the foundation for long-term growth of this generation,” said Clo Ewing, a campaign spokeswoman, “by expanding access to quality, affordable health care for young people, investing in college and job training that ensures they’re ready to succeed in the work force, and investing in a manufacturing and clean energy sector that’s creating the jobs of today and tomorrow.”

Experts say that the segment of young working-class people who are struggling may appear disengaged, but that they are also highly persuadable. “Extensive research shows that if you ask young people to volunteer or vote, they respond at high rates,” said Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

In a report released in August, researchers from the center found that the most important factor in explaining low levels of civic participation may not be apathy but merely “an absence of opportunity and recruitment.” The report suggested that being “personally and explicitly asked” is perhaps the most important catalyst that motivates young people without college degrees to take political action.